0&.0 


university  of  IHirto 
Library  School. 


University  of  the  State  of  New  York 


[Extract  from  Proceedings  of  34th  Convocation] 

UNIVERSITY  CONVOCATION 
LIBRARY   SESSION,  1896 

Thursday  morning,  June  25 

PUBLIC  LIBRARIES 
Inspector  W:  R.  Eastman  — The  University  law  of  1892  con- 
tained 17  sections  devoted  exclusively  to  public  libraries,  indicating  how 
they  might  be  organized,  chartered  and  maintained,  providing  for  the 
lending  of  books  by  the  regents,  the  granting  of  state  and  local  subsidies 
and  general  supervision  by  the  University.  Since  that  date  the  Uni- 
versity has  chartered  98  public  libraries.  In  addition  to  these,  21 
libraries  having  obtained  charters  under  other  laws  have  been  admitted,, 
so  that  there  are  now  in  the  University  119  public  libraries.  The 
University  has  also  registered  35  other  libraries  as  meeting  the  minimum 
standard  for  such  institutions  and  therefore  entitled  to  state  aid,  making 
the  total  number  of  libraries  to-day  under  supervision  of  the  University 
154;  and  it  is  to  deal  with  this  great  and  growing  interest  that  this 
session  has  been  planned. 

THE  MISSION  AND  THE  MISSIONARIES  OF  THE  BOOK 

SUP'T  J.  N.  LARNED,  BUFFALO  LIBRARY 

For  the  most  part,  that  lifting  of  the  human  race  in  condition  and 
character  which  we  call  civilization  has  been  wrought  by  individual 
energies  acting  on  simply  selfish  lines.  When  I  say  this,  I  use  the  term 
selfish  in  no  sense  that  is  necessarily  mean  but  only  as  indicating  the  un- 
questionable fact  that  men  have  striven,  in  the  main,  each  for  himself 
more  than  for  one  another,  even  in  those  strivings  that  have  advanced 
the  whole  race.  Within  certain  limits  there  is  no  discredit  to  human 
nature  in  the  fact.  A  measure  of  selfishness  is  prescribed  to  man  by  the 
terms  of  his  individuality  and  the  conditions  of  his  existence.  His  only 
escape  from  it  is  through  exertions  which  he  must  employ  at  first  in  his 
own  behalf  in  order  to  win  the  independence  and  the  power  to  be  helpful 
'to  his  fellows.  So  it  seems  to  me  quite  impossible  to  imagine  a  process 
that  would  have  worked  out  the  civilization  of  the  race  otherwise  than 
by  the  self-pushing  energy  that  has  impelled  individual  men  to  plant,  to 
build,  to  trade,  to  explore,  to  experiment,  to  think,  to  plan,  primarily 
and  immediately  for  their  own  personal  advantage. 

R24gm-N96-2ooo 


92 


UNIVERSITY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK 


[June  25 


But  if  the  more  active  forces  in  civilization  are  mainly  from  selfish 
springs,  there  are  two,  at  least,  which  have  nobler  sources  and  a  nobler 
historic  part.  One  is  the  sympathetic  impulse  which  represents  benevo- 
lence on  its  negative  side,  pained  by  the  misfortunes  of  others  and  active 
to  relieve  them.  In  the  second,  which  is  more  rare,  we  find  benevolence 
of  the  positive  kind.  Its  spring  is  in  a  purely  generous  feeling,  which 
strongly  moves  one  to  communicate  to  others  some  good  which  is  pre- 
cious to  him  in  his  own  experience  of  it.  It  is  a  feeling  which  may  rise 
in  different  minds  from  different  estimates  of  good,  and  be  directed 
toward  immediate  objects  that  are  unlike,  but  the  disinterested  motive 
and  ultimate  aim  are  unvarying,  and  it  manifests  in  all  cases  the  very 
noblest  enthusiasm  that  humanity  is  capable  of.  There  seems  to  be  no 
name  for  it  so  true  as  that  used  when  we  speak  of  a  missionary  spirit  in 
efforts  that  aim  at  the  sharing  of  some  greatly  cherished  good  with  people 
who  have  not  learned  that  it  is  good.  At  the  same  time  we  must  remem- 
ber that  mere  propagandisms  put  on  the  missionary  garb  without  its 
spirit,  and  spuriously  imitate  its  altruistic  zeal;  and  we  must  keep  our 
definition  in  mind. 

There  are  always  true  missionaries  in  the  world,  laboring  with  equally 
pure  hearts,  though  with  minds  directed  toward  many  different  ends  of 
benefaction  to  their  fellows.  But  only  two  objects  —  the  spiritual  good 
of  mankind,  contemplated  in  religious  beliefs,  and  the  intellectual  good, 
pursued  in  educational  plans — have  ever  wakened  the  missionary  spirit 
in  a  large,  world-moving  way.  The  supremely  great  epochs  in  human 
history  are  those  few  which  have  been  marked  by  mighty  waves  of 
altruistic  enthusiasm,  sweeping  over  the  earth  from  sources  of  excitation 
found  in  one  or  the  other  of  these  two  ideals  of  good. 

Naturally  the  first  wakening  was  under  the  touch  of  beliefs  which  con- 
template a  more  than  earthly  good;  and  those  beliefs  have  moved  the 
missionary  spirit  at  all  times  most  passionately  and  powerfully.  But  even 
the  religious  wakening  was  not  an  early  event  in  history.  I  think  I  may 
safely  say  that  no  trace  of  it  is  to  be  found  among  the  worshipers  of 
remote  antiquity.  The  Hebrew  prophets  never  labored  as  dispensers  of 
a  personal  blessing  from  their  faith.  It  was  for  Israel,  the  national 
Israel,  that  they  preached  the  claims  and  declared  the  requirements  of 
the  God  of  Israel.  The  priests  of  Osiris  and  Bel  were  still  more  in- 
different to  the  interest  of  the  worshiper  in  the  worship  of  their  gods, 
thinking  only  of  the  honor  demanded  by  the  gods  themselves.  So  far  as 
history  will  show,  the  first  missionary  inspiration  would  seem  to  have 
been  brought  into  religion  by  Gotama,  the  Buddha,  whose  pure  and  ex- 


i896] 


THE  MISSION  AND  THE  MISSIONARIES  OF  THE  BOOK 


93 


alted  but  enervating  gospel  of  renunciation  filled  Asia  with  evangelists 
and  was  carried  to  all  peoples  as  the  message  of  a  hope  of  deliverance 
from  the  universal  sorrow  of  the  world.  Then,  centuries  later,  came  the 
commission  more  divine  which  sent  forth  the  apostles  of  Christianity  to 
tell  the  story  of  the  Cross  and  to  bear  the  offer  of  salvation  to  every 
human  soul.  As  religiously  kindled,  the  missionary  spirit  has  never 
burned  with  more  fervor  than  it  did  in  the  first  centuries  of  Christian 
preaching.  But  nothing  akin  to  it  was  set  aflame  in  the  smallest  degree 
by  any  other  eagerness  of  desire  for  the  communication  of  a  blessing  or 
good  to  mankind.  Until  we  come  to  modern  times,  I  can  see  no  mark 
of  the  missionary  motive  in  any  labor  that  was  not  religious. 

The  one  object  which,  in  time,  as  I  have  said,  came  to  rival  the 
religious  object  as  an  inspiration  of  missionary  work,  the  modern  zeal 
for  education,  was  late  and  slow  in  moving  feelings  to  an  unselfish  depth. 
Enthusiasm  for  learning  at  the  period  of  the  renaissance  was  enthusiasm 
among  the  few  who  craved  learning,  and  was  mostly  expended  within 
their  own  circle.  There  was  little  thought  of  pressing  the  good  gift  on 
the  multitude  who  knew  not  their  loss  in  the  lack  of  it.  The  earliest 
great  pleader  for  a  common  education  of  the  whole  people  was  Luther ; 
but  the  school  was  chiefly  important  in  Luther's  view  as  the  nursery  of 
the  church  and  as  a  health-bringer  to  the  state,  and  he  labored  for  it 
more  as  a  means  to  religious  and  political  ends  than  as  an  end  in  itself. 
Almost  a  century  after  Luther  there  appeared  one  whom  Michelet  has 
called  "  the  first  evangelist  of  modern  pedagogy  "  John  Amos  Comenius, 
the  Moravian.  The  same  thought  of  him,  as  an  evangelist,  is  expressed 
by  the  historian  Raumer,  who  says :  "  Comenius  is  a  grand  and  venerable 
figure  of  sorrow.  Wandering,  persecuted  and  homeless  during  the  terrible 
and  desolating  thirty  years  war,  he  yet  never  despaired,  but  with  enduring 
truth  and  strong  in  faith  he  labored  unweariedly  to  prepare  youth  by  a 
better  education  for  a  better  future.  He  labored  for  them  with  a  zeal  and 
love  worthy  of  the  chief  of  the  Apostles."  And  the  education  for  which 
Comenius  labored  was  no  less,  in  his  own  words,  than  "the  teaching  to 
all  men  of  all  the  subjects  of  human  concern."  Proclaiming  his  educa- 
tional creed  at  another  time  he  said :  11  I  undertake  an  organization  of 
schools  whereby  all  the  youth  maybe  instructed  save  those  to  whom  God 
has  denied  intelligence,  and  instructed  in  all  those  things  which  make 
man  wise,  good  and  holy." 

Here  then  had  arisen  the  first  true  missionary  of  common  teaching, 
who  bore  the  invitation  to  learning  as  a  gospel  proffered  to  all  childhood 
and  all  youth  and  who  strove  in  its  behalf  with  apostolic  zeal.  The 


94  UNIVERSITY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK  [June  25 

period  of  the  active  labors  of  Comenius  was  before  and  a  little  after  the 
middle  of  the  17th  century.  He  made  some  impression  upon  the  ideas 
and  the  educational  methods  of  his  time,  but  Europe  generally  was  cold 
to  his  enthusiasm.  In  one  small  corner  of  it,  alone,  there  was  a  people 
already  prepared  for  and  already  beginning  to  realize  his  inspiring  dreams 
of  universal  education.  That  was  Holland,  where  the  state,  even  in  the 
midst  of  its  struggle  for  an  independent  existence,  was  assuming  the  sup- 
port of  common  schools  and  attempting  to  provide  them  for  every  child. 
In  that  one  spot  the  true  missionary  leaven  in  education  was  found  work- 
ing while  the  17th  century  was  still  young,  and  from  Holland  it  would  seem 
to  have  been  carried  to  America  long  before  the  fermentation  was  really 
felt  in  any  other  country. 

Elsewhere  in  the  old  world,  if  Comenius  found  any  immediate  suc- 
cessor in  the  new  field  of  missionary  labor  which  he  had  practically  dis- 
covered and  opened,  it  was  the  Abb6  La  Salle,  founder  of  the  great 
teaching  order  of  the  Christian  Brothers.    But  the  zeal  kindled  by  La 
Salle,  which  has  burned  even  to  the  present  day,  was  essentially  religious 
in  its'  aims  and  dedicated  to  the  service  of  his  church.    The  spirit  in 
common  teaching  still  waited  generally  for  that  which  would  make  a 
secular  saving  faith  of  it,  urgent,  persisting,  not  to  be  denied  or  escaped 
from.    The  world  at  large  made  some  slow  progress  toward  better  things 
in  it;  schools  were  increased  in  number  and  improved;  Jesuits,  Jansenists, 
Oratorians  and  other  teaching  orders  in  the  Roman  church  labored  more 
intelligently;  middle-class  education  in  England  and  other  countries 
received  more  attention.    But  the  conscience  of  society  in  general  was 
satisfied  with  the  opening  of  the  school  to  those  who  came  with  money 
in  their  hands  and  knocked  at  its  door.    There  was  no  thought  yet  of 
standing  in  the  door  and  crying  out  to  the  moneyless  and  to  the  indif- 
ferent, bidding  them  come.    Far  less  was  their  thought  of  going  out  into 
the  highways  and  hedges  to  bring  them  in.     Another  century  of  time 
was  needed  and  a  long  line  of  apostolic  teachers,  agitators  and  adminis- 
trators like  Pestalozzi,  Father  Girard,  Frobel,  Humboldt,  Brougham, 
Horace  Mann,  to  inspire  that  feeling  for  education  which  warms  the 
western  nations  of  the  world  at  last:  the  feeling  for  education  as  a 
supreme  good  in  itself,  not  merely  as  a  breadmaking  or  a  moneymaking 
instrument;  not  merely  for  giving  arithmetic  to  the  shop-keeper,  or  book- 
keeping to  the  clerk,  or  even  political  opinions  to  the  citizen;  not  merely 
for  supplying  preachers  to  the  pulpit,  or  physicians  to  the  sick-room,  or 
lawyers  to  the  bench  and  bar;  but  in  and  of  and  for  its  own  sake,  as  a 
good  to  humanity  which  surpasses  every  other  good,  save  one.    This  is 


1896]  THE  MISSION  AND  THE  MISSIONARIES  OF  THE  BOOK  95 

what  I  call  the  missionary  spirit  in  education,  and  it  has  so  far  been 
wakened  in  the  world  that  we  expect  and  demand  it  in  the  teaching 
work  of  our  time,  and  when  we  do  not  have  it,  we  are  cheated  by  its 
counterfeit. 

But  this  zeal  for  education  was  animated  in  most  communities  sooner 
than  the  thought  needed  for  its  wise  direction.    There  was  a  time  not 
long  ago  when  it  expended  itself  in  schoolrooms  and  colleges  and  was 
satisfied.    To  have  laid  benignant  hands  on  the  children  of  the  genera- 
tion and  pushed  them,  with  a  kindly  coercion,  through  some  judicious 
curriculum  of  studies  was  thought  to  be  enough.    That  limited  concep- 
tion of  education  as  a  common  good  sufficed  for  a  time,  but  not  long. 
The  impulse  which  carried  public  sentiment  to  that  length  was  sure  to 
press  questions  upon  it  that  would  reach  further  yet.    "  Have  we  arrived," 
it  began  to  ask,  "  at  the  end  for  which  our  public,  schools  are  the  means  ? 
We  have  provided  broadly  and  liberally  —  for  what  ?    For  teaching  our 
children  to  read  their  own  language  in  print,  to  trace  it  in  written  signs, 
to  construct  it  in  grammatical  forms,  to  be  familiar  with  arithmetical 
rules,  to  know  the  standards  and  divisions  of  weight  and  measure,  to  form 
a  notion  of  the  surface-features  of  the  earth  and  to  be  acquainted  with 
the  principal  names  that  have  been  given  to  them,  to  remember  a  few 
chief  facts  in  the  past  of  their  own  country.    But  these  are  only  keys 
which  we  expect  them  to  use  in  their  acquisition  of  knowledge,  rather 
than  knowledge  itself.    When  they  quit  the  school  with  these  wonderful 
keys  of  alphabet  and  number  in  their  possession,  they  are  only  in  the 
vestibule  chambers  of  education.    Can  we  leave  them  there,  these  chil- 
dren and  youth  of  our  time,  to  find  as  best  they  may,  or  not  find  at  all, 
the  treasuries  we  would  have  them  unlock  ?  n    To  ask  the  question  was 
to  answer  it.    Once  challenged  to  a  larger  thought  of  education,  the 
missionary  spirit  of  the  age  rose  boldly  in  its  demands.    The  free  school, 
the  academy,  the  college  even,  grew  in  importance,  when  looked  at  in 
the  larger  view,  but  they  were  seen  to  be  not  enough.    They  were  seen 
to  be  only  blessed  openings  in  the  way  to  knowledge,  garlanded  gates, 
ivory  portals,  golden  doors  ;  but  passage-ways  only,  after  all,  to  knowl- 
edge beyond  them.    And  the  knowledge  to  which  they  led,  while  much 
and  of  many  kinds  may  need  to  be  gleaned  in  the  open  fields  of  life,  out 
of  living  observations  and  experiences,  yet  mainly  exists  as  a  measureless 
store  of  accumulated  savings  from  the  experience  and  observation  of  all 
the  generations  that  have  lived  and  died,  recorded  in  writing  and  pre- 
served in  print.    There  then  in  the  command  and  possession  of  that 
great  store,  the  end  of  education  was  seen  to  be  most  nearly  realized ;  and 
so  the  free  public  library  was  added  to  the  free  public  school. 


96 


UNIVERSITY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK 


[June  25 


But  strangely  enough,  when  that  was  first  done,  there  happened  the 
same  halting  of  spirit  that  had  appeared  in  the  free  public  school. 
To  have  collected  a  library  of  books  and  to  have  set  its  doors  open  to  all 
comers,  was  assumed  to  be  the  fulfilment  of  duty  in  the  matter.  The 
books  waited  for  readers  to  seek  them.  The  librarian  waited  for  inquirers 
to  press  their  way  to  him.  No  one  thought  of  outspreading  the  books  of 
the  library  like  a  merchant's  wares,  to  win  the  public  eye  to  them.  None 
thought  of  trying  by  any  means  to  rouse  an  appetite  for  books  in  minds 
not  naturally  hungry  for  learning  or  poetry  or  the  thinking  of  other  men. 
So  the  free  or  the  nearly  free  public  libraries,  for  a  time  wrought  no  great 
good  for  education  beyond  a  circle  in  which  the  energy  of  the  desire  to 
which  they  answered  was  most  independent  of  any  public  help. 

But  this  stage  of  passive  existence  in  the  life  of  the  free  public  library 
had  no  long  duration.  Soon  the  missionary  passion  began  to  stir  men 
here  and  there  in  the  library  field,  as  it  had  stirred  teachers  in  the  schools 
before.  One  by  one  the  inspiration  of  their  calling  began  to  burn  in  their 
hearts.  They  saw  with  new  eyes  the  greatness  of  the  trust  that  had  been 
confided  to  them  and  they  rose  to  a  new  sense  of  the  obligations  borne 
with  it.  No  longer  a  mere  keeper,  custodian,  watchman,  set  over  dumb 
treasures  to  hold  them  safe,  the  librarian  now  took  active  functions  upon 
himself  and  became  the  minister  of  his  trust,  commanded  by  his  own  feel- 
ings and  by  many  incentives  around  him  to  make  the  most  in  all  possible 
ways  of  the  library  as  an  influence  for  good.  The  new  spirit  thus  brought 
into  library  work  spread  quickly,  as  a  beneficent  epidemic,  from  New  Eng- 
land, where  its  appearance  was  first  notably  marked,  over  America  and 
Great  Britain  and  into  all  English  lands,  and  is  making  its  way  more 
slowly  in  other  parts  of  the  world. 

The  primary  effort  to  which  it  urged  librarians  and  library  trustees  was 
that  towards  bettering  the  introduction  of  books  to  readers;  towards 
making  them  known,  in  the  first  instance,  with  a  due  setting  forth  of  what 
they  are  and  what  they  offer;  then  toward  putting  them  in  right  relations 
with  one  another,  by  groupings  according  to  subject  and  literary  form 
and  by  cross-bindings  of  reference;  then  towards  establishing  the  easiest 
possible  guidance  to  them,  both  severally  and  in  their  groups,  for  all 
seekers,  whether  simple  or  learned.  When  serious  attention  had  once 
been  given  to  these  matters  there  was  found  to  be  need  in  them  of  a 
measure  of  study,  of  experiment,  of  inventive  ingenuity,  and  of  individual 
collective  experience,  of  practical  and  philosophical  attainments,  that  had 
never  been  suspected  before.  These  discoveries  gave  form  to  a  concep- 
tion of  "library  science,"  of  a  department  of  study,  that  is,  entitled  to 


i896] 


THE  MISSION  AND  THE  MISSIONARIES  OF  THE  BOOK 


97 


scientific  rank  by  the  importance  of  its  results,  the  precision  of  its  methods, 
the  range  of  its  details.  The  quick  development  of  the  new  science 
within  the  few  years  that  have  passed  since  the  first  thought  of  it  came 
into  men's  minds,  is  marked  by  the  rise  of  flourishing  library  schools  and 
classes  in  all  parts  of  the  United  States,  east  and  west. 

For  more  efficiency  in  their  common  work,  the  reformers  of  the  library 
were  organized  at  an  early  day.  The  American  library  association  on 
this  side  of  the  sea  and  the  Library  association  of  the  United  Kingdom 
on  the  other  side,  with  journals  giving  voice  to  each,  proved  powerful  in 
their  unifying  effect.  Ideas  were  exchanged  and  experiences  compared. 
Each  was  taught  by  the  successes  or  warned  by  the  failures  of  his  neigh- 
bors. What  each  one  learned  by  investigation  or  proved  by  trial  became 
the  property  of  every  other.  The  mutual  instruction  that  came  about 
was  only  equaled  by  the  working  cooperation  which  followed.  Great 
tasks,  beyond  the  power  of  individuals,  and  impossible  as  commercial 
undertakings,  because  promising  no  pecuniary  reward,  were  planned  and 
laboriously  performed  by  the  union  of  many  coworkers,  widely  scattered 
in  the  world,  but  moved  by  one  disinterested  aim.  From  122  libraries, 
in  that  mode  of  alliance,  there  was  massed  the  labor  which  indexed  the 
whole  body  of  general  magazine  literature,  thus  sweeping  the  dust  from 
thousands  of  volumes  that  had  been  practically  useless  before,  bringing 
the  invaluable  miscellany  of  their  contents  into  daily,  definite  service,  by 
making  its  subjects  known  and  easily  traced.  The  same  work  of  co- 
operative indexing  was  next  carried  into  the  indeterminate  field  of 
general  miscellaneous  books.  By  still  broader  cooperation,  a  selection 
of  books  was  made  from  the  huge  mass  of  all  literature,  with  siftings 
and  resiftings,  to  be  a  standard  of  choice  and  a  model  of  cataloguing  for 
small  new  libraries.  And  now  topical  lists  on  many  subjects  are  being 
prepared  for  the  guidance  of  readers  by  specialists  in  each  subject,  with 
notes  to  describe  and  value  the  books  named.  The  possibilities  of  co- 
operation in  library  work  are  just  beginning  to  be  realized,  and  the  great 
tasks  already  accomplished  by  it  will  probably  look  small  when  compared 
with  undertakings  to  come  hereafter. 

But,  after  all,  it  is  the  individual  work  in  the  libraries  which  manifests 
most  distinctly  the  new  spirit  of  the  time.  The  perfected  cataloguing, 
which  opens  paths  for  the  seeker  from  every  probable  starting-point  of 
inquiry  not  only  to  books,  but  into  the  contents  of  books;  the  multiplied 
reading  lists  and  reference  lists  on  questions  and  topics  of  the  day,  which 
are  quick  to  answer  a  momentary  interest  in  the  public  mind  and  direct 
it  to  the  best  sources  for  its  satisfaction ;  the  annotated  bulletins  of  cur- 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK  [June  25 


rent  literature,  which  announce  and  value  as  far  as  practicable,  by  some 
word  of  competent  criticism,  the  more  important  publications  of  each 
month;  the  opening  of  book  shelves  to  readers,  to  which  libraries  are 
tending  as  far  as  their  construction  and  their  circumstances  will  permit; 
the  evolution  of  the  children's  reading-room,  now  become  a  standard 
feature  to  be  provided  for  in  every  new  building  design,  and  to  be  striven 
for  in  buildings  of  an  older  pattern;  the  invention  of  traveling  libraries 
and  home  libraries;  the  increasing  provision  made  in  library  service  for 
the  helping  of  students  and  inquirers  to  pursue  their  investigations  and 
make  their  searches;  the  increasing  cooperation  of  libraries  and  schools, 
with  the  growing  attraction  of  teachers  and  pupils  toward  the  true  litera- 
ture of  their  subjects  of  study,  and  the  waning  tyranny  of  the  dessicated 
text  book;  in  all  these  things  there  is  the  measure  of  an  influence  which 
was  hardly  beginning  to  be  felt  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago. 

I  have  named  last  among  the  fruits  of  this  potent  influence  the  coopera- 
tion of  libraries  and  schools,  not  because  it  stands  least  in  the  list,  but  be- 
cause the  whole  missionary  inspiration  from  every  standpoint  of  solicitude 
for  the  educational  good  of  mankind  is  united  and  culminated  in  it  and 
is  doing  its  greatest  work.  The  missionary  teacher  and  the  mis- 
sionary librarian  come  together  in  these  new  arrangements,  work- 
ing no  longer  one  in  the  steps  of  the  other  —  one  carrying  forward 
the  education  which  the  other  has  begun  —  but  hand  in  hand  and 
side  by  side,  leading  children  from  the  earliest  age  into  the  wonderful  and 
beautiful  book  world  of  poetry,  legend,  story,  nature-knowledge  or  science, 
time-knowledge  or  history,  life-knowledge  or  biography,  making  it  dear 
and  familiar  to  them  in  the  impressionable  years  within  which  their 
tastes  are  formed.  The  school  alone,  under  common  conditions,  can 
do  nothing  of  that.  On  the  contrary,  its  text  books,  as  known  generally 
in  the  past,  have  been  calculated  to  repel  the  young  mind.  They 
have  represented  to  it  little  but  the  dry  task  of  rote  learning  and  recita- 
tion. They  have  brought  to  it  nothing  of  the  flavor  of  real  literature 
nor  any  of  that  rapturous  delight  from  an  inner  sense  of  rhythmic 
motions  which  real  literature  can  give :  neither  the  dancing  step,  nor 
the  swinging  march,  nor  the  rush  as  with  steeds,  nor  the  lift  and 
sweep  as  with  wings,  which  even  a  child  may  be  made  to  feel  in  great 
poetry  and  in  noble  prose,  and  which  once  experienced  is  a  beguiling 
charm  forever.  The  whole  tendency  of  the  text  book  teaching  of 
schools  is  towards  deadening  the  young  mind  to  that  feeling  for  literature, 
and  alienating  it  from  books  by  a  prejudice  born  of  wrong  impressions 
at  the  beginning.    Just  so  far  as  the  school  reader,  the  school  geography, 


1896]  THE  MISSION  AND  THE  MISSIONARIES  OF  THE  BOOK  99 

the  school  history  and  their  fellow  compends,  are  permitted  to  remain 
conspicuous  in  a  child's  thought  during  his  early  years,  as  representative 
of  the  books  which  he  will  be  admonished  by  and  by  to  read,  so  far  he 
will  be  put  into  an  opposition  never  easy  to  overcome. 

The  tenderest  years  of  childhood  are  the  years  of  all  others  for  shaping 
a  pure  intellectual  taste  and  creating  a  pure  intellectual  thirst  which  only 
a  noble  literature  can  satisfy  in  the  end.  We  have  come  at  last  to  the 
discernment  of  that  pregnant  fact  and  our  schemes  of  education  for  the 
young  are  being  reconstructed  accordingly.  There  is  no  longer  the 
division  of  labor  between  school  and  library  which  seemed  but  a  little 
time  ago  to  be  so  plainly  marked  out.  Schools  are  not  to  make  readers 
for  libraries,  nor  are  libraries  to  wait  for  readers  to  come  to  them  out  of 
the  schools.  The  school  and  the  world  of  books  which  it  makes  known 
to  him  are  to  be  identified  in  the  child's  mind.  There  is  to  be  no  dis- 
tinction in  his  memory  between  reading  as  an  art  learned  and  reading  as 
a  delight  discovered.  The  art  and  the  use  of  the  art  are  to  be  one  simul- 
taneous communication  to  him. 

That  is  the  end  contemplated  in  the  cooperative  work  of  libraries  and 
schools,  which,  recent  in  its  beginning,  has  made  great  advances  already 
and  which  especially  appeals. to  what  I  have  called  the  missionary  enthu- 
siasm in  both  libraries  and  schools.  It  contemplates  what  seems  to  be 
the  truest  ideal  of  teaching  ever  shaped  in  thought,  of  teaching  not  as 
educating  but  as  setting  the  voung  in  the  way  of  education ;  as  starting 
them  on  a  course  of  self-culture  which  they  will  pursue  to  the  end  of  their 
lives,  with  no  willingness  to  turn  back.  The  highest  ideal  of  education 
is  realized  in  that  lifelong  pursuit  of  it,  and  the  success  of  any  school  is 
measured  not  by  the  little  portion  of  actual  learning  which  its  students 
take  out  of  it,  but  by  the  persisting  strength  of  the  impulse  to  know  and 
to  think,  which  they  carry  from  the  school  into  their  later  lives. 

But  there  are  people  who  may  assent  to  all  that  is  said  of  education  in 
this  life-lasting  view  of  it,  who  will  deny  that  there  is  a  question  in  it  of 
books.  "  We,"  they  say,  "  find  more  for  our  instruction  in  life  than  in 
books.  The  reality  of  things  interests  us  more  and  teaches  us  more  than 
the  report  and  description  of  them  by  others.  We  study  men  among 
men  and  God's  works  in  the  midst  of  them.  We  prefer  to  take  knowl- 
edge at  first  hand,  from  nature  and  from  society,  rather  than  second- 
handedly,  out  of  a  printed  page.  Your  book-wisdom  is  from  the  closet 
and  for  closet-use.  It  is  not  the  kind  needed  in  a  busy  and  breezy  world." 
Well,  there  is  a  half-truth  in  this  which  must  not  be  ignored.  To  make 
everything  of  books  in  the  development  of  men  and  women  is  a  greater 


100 


UNIVERSITY  OF  THE  STATE   OF  NEW  YORK 


[June  25 


mistake,  perhaps,  than  to  make  nothing  of  them.  For  life  has  teachings, 
and  nature  out-of-doors  has  teachings,  for  which  no  man,  if  he  misses 
them,  can  find  compensation  in  books.  We  can  say  that  frankly  to  the 
contemner  of  books  and  we  yield  no  ground  in  doing  so;  for  then  we 
turn  upon  him  and  say :  "  Your  life,  sir,  to  which  you  look  for  all  the 
enlightenment  of  soul  and  mind  that  you  receive,  is  a  brief  span  of  a  few 
tens  of  years ;  the  circle  of  human  acquaintances  in  which  you  are  satisfied 
to  make  your  whole  study  of  mankind  is  a  little  company  of  a  few  hun- 
dred men  and  women,  at  the  most;  the  natural  world  from  which  you 
think  to  take  sufficient  lessons  with  your  unassisted  eyes  is  made  up  of 
some  few  bits  of  city  streets  and  country  lanes  and  seaside  sands.  What 
can  you,  sir,  know  of  life,  compared  with  the  man  who  has  had  equal  years 
of  breath  and  consciousness  with  you,  and  who  puts  with  that  experience 
some  large,  wide  knowledge  of  forty  centuries  of  human  history  in  the 
whole  round  world  besides  ?  What  can  you  know  of  mankind  and  human 
nature  compared  with  the  man  who  meets  and  talks  with  as  many  of  his 
neighbors  in  the  flesh  as  yourself  and  who,  beyond  that,  has  companion- 
ship and  communion  of  mind  with  the  kingly  and  queenly  ones  of  all  the 
generations  that  are  dead  ?  What  can  you  learn  from  nature  compared 
with  him  who  has  Darwin  and  Dana  and  Huxley  and  Tyndall  and  Gray 
for  his  tutors  when  he  walks  abroad,  and  who,  besides  the  home-rambling 
which  he  shares  with  you,  can  go  bird- watching  with  John  Burroughs  up 
and  down  the  Atlantic  states,  or  roaming  with  Thoreau  in  Maine  woods, 
or  strolling  with  Richard  Jeffries  in  English  lanes  and  fields  ?  " 

Truth  is,  the  bookless  man  does  not  understand  his  own  loss.  He 
does  not  know  the  leanness  in  which  his  mind  is  kept  by  want  of  the 
food  which  he  rejects.  He  does  not  know  what  starving  of  imagination 
and  of  thought  he  has  inflicted  upon  himself.  He  has  suffered  his  interest 
in  the  things  which  make  up  God's  knowable  universe  to  shrink  until  it 
reaches  no  farther  than  his  eyes  can  see  and  his  ears  can  hear.  The 
books  which  he  scorns  are  the  telescopes  and  reflectors  and  reverberators 
of  our  intellectual  life,  holding  in  themselves  a  hundred  magical  powers 
for  the  overcoming  of  space  and  time,  and  for  giving  the  range  of  knowl- 
edge which  belongs  to  a  really  cultivated  mind.  There  is  no  equal 
substitute  for  them.  There  is  nothing  else  which  will  so  break  for  us  the 
poor  hobble  of  everyday  sights  and  sounds  and  habits  and  tasks,  by 
which  our  thinking  and  feeling  are  naturally  tethered  to  a  little  worn 
round. 

Some  may  think,  perhaps,  that  newspapers  should  be  named  with  books 
as  sharing  this  high  office.    In  truth,  it  ought  to  be  possible  to  rank  the 


i896] 


THE  MISSION  AND  THE  MISSIONARIES  OF  THE  BOOK 


IOI 


newspaper  with  the  book  as  an  instrument  of  culture.  Equally  in  truth, 
it  is  not  possible  to  do  so,  except  in  the  case  of  some  small  number. 
The  true  public  journal — diary  of  the  world  —  which  is  actually  a  news- 
paper  and  not  a  ^ww^-paper,  is  most  powerfully  an  educator,  cultivator, 
broadener  of  the  minds  of  those  who  read  it.  It  lifts  them  out  of  their 
petty  personal  surroundings  and  sets  them  in  the  midst  of  all  the  great 
movements  of  the  time  on  every  continent.  It  makes  them  spectators 
and  judges  of  everything  that  happens  or  is  done,  demands  opinions 
from  them,  extorts  their  sympathy  and  moves  them  morally  to  wrath  or 
admiration.  In  a  word,  it  produces  daily,  in  their  thought  and  feeling,  a 
thousand  large  relations  with  their  fellow  men  of  every  country  and  race, 
with  noble  results  of  the  highest  and  truest  cultivation. 

But  the  common  so-called  newspaper  of  the  present  day,  which  is  a 
mere  rag-picker  of  scandal  and  gossip,  searching  the  gutters  and  garbage- 
barrels  of  the  whole  earth  for  every  tainted  and  unclean  scrap  of  personal 
misdoing  or  mishap  that  can  be  dragged  to  light  j  the  so-called  news- 
paper which  interests  itself  and  which  labors  to  interest  its  readers,  in  the 
trivialities  and  ignoble  occurrences  of  the  day  —  in  the  prize  fights,  and 
mean  preliminaries  of  prize  fights,  the  boxing  matches,  the  ball  games,  the 
races,  the  teas,  the  luncheons,  the  receptions,  the  dresses,  the  goings  and 
comings  and  private  doings  of  private  persons  —  making  the  most  in  all 
possible  ways  of  all  petty  things  and  low  things,  while  treating  grave 
matters  with  levity  and  impertinence,  with  what  effect  is  such  a  news- 
paper read  ?  I  do  not  care  to  say.  If  T  spoke  my  mind  I  might  strike 
harshly  at  too  many  people  whose  reading  is  confined  to  such  sheets.  I 
will  venture  only  so  much  remark  as  this :  that  I  would  prefer  absolute 
illiteracy  for  a  son  or  daughter  of  mine,  total  inability  to  spell  a  printed 
word,  rather  than  that  he  or  she  should  be  habitually  a  reader  of  the  com- 
mon newspapers  of  America  to-day,  and  a  reader  of  nothing  better. 

I  could  say  the  same  of  many  books.  So  far,  in  speaking  of  books,  I 
have  been  taking  for  granted  that  you  will  understand  me  to  mean,  not 
everything  without  discrimination  which  has  the  form  of  a  book,  but 
only  the  true  literature  which  worthily  bears  that  printed  form.  For  if 
we  must  give  the  name  to  all  printed  sheets,  folded  and  stitched  together 
in  a  certain  mode,  then  it  becomes  necessary  to  qualify  the  use  we  make 
of  the  name.  Then  we  must  sweep  out  of  the  question  vast  numbers  of 
books  which  belong  to  literature  no  more  than  a  counterfeit  dollar  belongs 
to  the  money  of  the  country.  They  are  counterfeits  in  literature— base 
imitations  of  the  true  book;  that  is  their  real  character.  Readers  may 
be  cheated  by  them  precisely  as  buyers  and  sellers  may  be  cheated  by 


102 


UNIVERSITY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK 


[June  25 


the  spurious  coin,  and  the  detection  and  rejection  of  them  are  effected  by 
identically  the  same  process  of  scrutiny  and  comparison.  Every  genuine 
book  has  a  reason  for  its  existence,  in  something  of  value  which  it  brings 
to  the  reader.  That  something  may  be  information,  it  may  be  in  ideas, 
it  may  be  in  moral  stimulations,  it  may  be  in  wholesome  emotions,  it  may 
be  in  gifts  to  the  imagination,  or  to  the  fancy,  or  to  the  sense  of  humor, 
or  to  the  humane  sympathies,  or  indefinably  to  the  whole  conscious  con- 
tentment of  the  absorbing  mind  5  but  it  will  always  be  a  fact  which  those 
who  make  themselves  familiar  with  good  and  true  books  can  never  mis- 
take. Whether  they  find  it  in  a  book  of  history,  or  of  travel,  or  of 
biography,  or  of  piety,  or  of  science,  or  of  poetry,  or  of  nonsense  (for 
there  are  good  books  of  nonsense,  like  Alice  in  Wo?iderland,  for  example) 
they  will  infallibly  recognize  the  stamp  of  genuineness  upon  it.  The 
readers  who  are  cheated  by  base  and  worthless  books  are  the  readers  who 
will  not  give  themselves  an  expert  knowledge  of  good  books,  as  they 
might  easily  do. 

Here,  then,  opens  one  of  the  greater  missionary  fields  of  the  public 
library.  To  push  the  competition  of  good  books  against  worthless  books, 
making  readers  of  what  is  vulgar  and  flat  acquainted  with  what  is  whole- 
some and  fine,  is  a  work  as  important  as  the  introduction  of  books  among 
people  who  have  never  read  at  all.  There  is  a  theory  which  has  some 
acceptance,  that  any  reading  is  better  than  no  reading.  It  rests  on  the 
assumption  that  an  appetite  for  letters  once  created,  even  by  the  trash  of 
the  press,  will  either  refine  its  own  taste  or  else  will  have  prepared  a 
susceptibility  to  literary  influences  which  could  not  otherwise  exist 
Those  who  hold  this  doctrine  have  confidence  that  a  young  devourer  of 
dime  novels,  for  example,  may  be  led  on  an  ascending  plane  through 
Castlemon,  Optic,  Alger,  Mayne  Reid,  Henty,  Verne,  Andersen,  De  Foe, 
Scott,  Homer,  Shakspere,  more  easily  than  a  boy  or  girl  who  runs  away 
from  print  of  every  sort  can  be  won  into  any  similar  path.  For  my  own 
part,  I  fear  the  theory  is  unsafe  for  working.  It  will  probably  prove  true 
in  some  cases;  I  am  quite  sure  that  it  will  prove  dangerously  false  in 
many  others.  There  are  kinds  of  habit  and  appetite  in  reading  which 
seem  to  be  as  deep-rooted  in  unhealthy  states  of  mind  and  brain  as  the 
appetite  for  opium  or  alcohol.  They  grow  up  among  the  habitual  readers 
of  such  newspapers  as  I  have  been  speaking  of,  and  equally  among 
readers  ol  the  slop-shop  novels,  vulgar  or  vile,  with  which  the  world  is 
flooded  in  this  age  of  print.  The  newspaper  appetite  or  the  trash-novel 
appetite,  once  fastened  on  the  brain  of  its  victim,  is  not  often  unloosed. 
It  masters  all  other  inclinations,  permits  no  other  taste  or  interest  to  be 


i896] 


THE  MISSION  AND  THE  MISSIONARIES  OF  THE  BOOK. 


wakened.  The  stuff  which  produces  it  is  as  dangerous  to  tamper  with 
as  any  other  dream  and  stupor  making  narcotic.  To  bait  readers  with  it, 
expecting  to  lure  them  on  to  better  literature,  is  to  run  a  grave  risk  of 
missing  the  end  and  realizing  only  the  mischiefs  of  the  temptation. 

Far  safer  will  it  be  to  hold  the  public  library  as  strictly  as  can  be  done 
to  the  mission  of  good  books.  And  that  is  a  vague  prescription.  How 
are  "good  books"  to  be  defined?  —  since  their  goodness  is  of  many 
degrees.  The  mere  distinction  between  good  and  bad  in  literature  I 
believe  to  be  easily  recognized,  as  I  have  said,  by  every  person  who  has 
tasted  the  good  and  whose  intellectual  sense  has  been  cultivated  by  it  to 
even  a  small  extent.  But  between  the  supremely  good  and  that  which 
is  simply  not  bad,  there  are  degrees  beyond  counting.  From  Bulwer  to 
Shakspere,  from  Trumbull  to  Homer,  from  Roe  to  Thackeray,  from 
Tupper  to  Marcus  Aurefius,  from  Talmage  to  Thomas  a  Kempis  or 
Thomas  Fuller,  from  Jacob  Abbott  to  Edward  Gibbon,  the  graduation 
of  quality  is  beyond  exact  marking  by  any  critical  science.  How  shall 
we  draw  lines  to  distinguish  the  negatively  from  the  positively  good  in 
letters  ?  We  simply  can  not.  We  can  only  lay  down  loose  lines  and  put 
behind  them  the  never  relaxing  spring  of  one  elastic  and  always  practi- 
cable rule.  Strive  unceasingly  for  the  best.  Give  all  the  opportunities 
to  the  best  literature  of  every  class.  Give  front  places  on  all  possible 
occasions  to  the  great  writers,  the  wise  writers,  the  learned  writers,  the 
wholesome  writers ;  keep  them  always  in  evidence ;  contrive  introduc- 
tions for  them;  make  readers  familiar  with  their  rank  and  standing. 
There  is  little  else  to  be  done.  The  public  library  would  be  false  to  its 
mission  if  it  did  not  exclude  books  that  are  positively  bad  either  through 
vice  or  vulgarity;  but  much  beyond  that  it  can  not  easily  go.  Happily, 
it  can  not  force  the  best  literature  upon  its  public ;  for  if  it  could,  the 
effect  would  be  lost.  But  it  can  recommend  the  best,  with  an  insisting 
urgency  that  will  prevail  in  the  end. 

I  am  by  nature  an  optimist.  Things  as  they  are  in  the  world  look 
extremely  disheartening  to  me,  but  I  think  I  can  see  forces  at  work  which 
will  powerfully  change  them  before  many  generations  have  passed. 
Among  such  forces,  the  most  potent  in  my  expectation  is  that  which  acts 
from  the  free  public  library.  Through  its  agency,  in  my  belief,  there  will 
come  a  day  —  it  may  be  a  distant  day,  but  it  will  come  —  when  the  large 
knowledge,  the  wise  thinking,  the  fine  feeling,  the  amplitude  of  spirit  that 
are  in  the  greater  literatures,  will  have  passed  into  so  many  minds  that 
they  will  rule  society  democratically,  by  right  of  numbers.  I  see  no  en- 
couragement to  hope  that  the  culture  which  lifts  men  from  generation  to 


104  UNIVERSITY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK  [Jutie  25 

generation,  little  by  little,  to  higher  levels  and  larger  visions  of  things, 
will  never  be  made  universal.  Under  the  best  circumstances  which  men 
can  bring  about,  nature  seems  likely  to  deny  to  a  considerable  class  of 
unfortunates  the  capacity,  either  mentally,  or  morally,  or  both,  for  refine- 
ment and  elevation.  But  if  that  be  true  at  all,  it  can  not  be  true  of  any 
formidable  number.  Among  the  progressive  races,  the  majority  of  men 
and  women  are  unquestionably  of  the  stuff  and  temper  out  of  which  any- 
thing fine  in  soul  and  strong  in  intellect  can  be  made,  if  not  in  one  genera- 
tion, then  in  two,  or  three,  or  10,  by  the  continual  play  upon  them  of  in- 
fluences from  the  finer  souls  and  greater  minds  of  their  own  times  and  of 
the  past.  It  is  not  by  nature  but  by  circumstance,  heredity  itself  being 
an  offspring  of  circumstance,  that  light  is  shut  from  the  greater  part  of 
those  who  walk  the  earth  with  darkened  minds.  Man  is  so  far  the  master 
of  circumstance  that  he  can  turn  and  diffuse  the  light  almost  as  he  will, 
and  his  will  to  make  the  illumination  of  the  few  common  to  the  many  is 
now  fully  manifested.  All  the  movements  that  I  have  reviewed  are 
marks  of  its  progressive  working.  It  translates  into  active  energy  that 
desire  for  others  of  the  good  most  precious  to  one's  self,  which  is  the 
finest  and  noblest  feeling  possible  to  human  nature.  All  the  forces  of 
selfishness  that  race  men  against  one  another  from  goal  to  goal  of  a  simply 
scientific  civilization,  would  fail  to  bring  about  this  supreme  end  of  a 
common  culture  for  the  race.  Nothing  but  the  missionary  inspiration 
could  give  a  reasonable  promise  of  it.  Let  us  thank  God  for  the  souls  He 
has  put  into  men,  having  that  capability  of  helpfulness  to  one  another. 


CORRELATION  OF  LIBRARY  AND  SCHOOL 

ON  THE  PART  OF  THE  LIBRARY 

BY  A.  L.  PECK,  GLOVERSVILLE  PUBLIC  LIBRARIAN 

Were  this  a  gathering  of  librarians,  the  consideration  of  a  subject  of 
this  kind  would  seem  to  me  almost  superfluous,  as  during  the  last  20 
years  at  every  meeting  of  librarians  the  subject  of  relations  of  libraries 
and  schools  has  been  considered  and  discussed.  The  records  of  these 
meetings  as  found  in  the  Library  journal  account  for  20  different  papers, 
while  in  two  special  numbers  of  the  Library  journal  13  additional  articles 
are  to  be  found,  four  of  these  written  by  teachers.  On  the  other  hand, 
as  far  as  I  was  able  to  examine  the  records  of  teachers  meetings,  the  dis- 
cussion of  the  relations  of  schools  and  libraries  has  not  found  as  yet 
much  consideration  on  the  part  of  educators.    I  am  aware  that  here  and 


1896]  CORRELATION  OF  LIBRARY  AND  SCHOOL  IO5 

there  some  prominent  superintendents  and  teachers  have  given  to  this 
subject  considerable  attention,  and  being  in  position  to  make  it  more 
effectual  have  rendered  valuable  services  to  this  branch  of  public  educa- 
tion. I  need  to  mention  only  the  work  of  such  educators  as  Chas. 
Francis  Adams,  jr,  Quincy,  Mass.,  Prof.  Robert  C.  Metcalf,  Boston, 
Mass.,  Prof.  James  M.  Sawin,  Providence,  R.  I.,  Prof.  George  E.  Hardy 
of  New  York,  and  Sup't  Sherman  Williams  of  Glens  Falls,  N.  Y. 

For  the  very  reason  that  the  state  of  New  York  more  than  any 
other  state  has  given  encouragement  to  libraries  and  officially  recognized 
them  as  educational  institutions,  we  are  invited  to  discuss  this  matter 
once  more  in  the  presence  of  the  leading  educators  of  the  state. 

While  it  was  always  my  desire  to  have  this  matter  brought  to  the  at- 
tention of  the  principals  and  superintendents  present  at  a  gathering  like 
this,  now  when  this  desire  has  been  realized,  I  almost  fear  that  the  one 
who  has  been  chosen  to  speak  on  this  subject  is  unable  to  present  it 
sufficiently  well.  But  with  your  kind  permission,  I  will  endeavor  to 
bring  before  you  the  most  salient  points  regarding  the  correlation  and 
cooperation  of  library  and  school. 

The  library  is  the  school's  natural  ally,  its  complement  and  supple- 
ment; both  are  forces  working  to  the  same  end,  acting  in  the  same  direc- 
tion. The  relation  of  the  public  library  to  the  public  school  also  is  that 
of  a  large  storehouse  to  the  individual  consumer.  If  the  teacher  is 
called  the  builder  of  the  mind,  the  librarian  can  furnish  the  timber  for  its 
building.  And  since  the  library  has  the  goods  to  offer,  it  is  its  duty  to 
seek  its  customers.  For  this  reason,  I  have  always  maintained  that  the 
librarian  has  to  take  the  first  step,  indeed  go  half  way  and  more  than 
that  to  meet  the  teacher  and  his  pupils.  Hence  you  also  can  explain  that 
the  literature  concerning  the  cooperation  of  library  and  school  gives  more 
evidence  of  the  zeal  of  the  librarian  than  that  of  the  teacher.  Teachers 
are  naturally  timid  and  with  their  inborn  modesty  will  not  readily  ask  for 
assistance  at  the  library,  and  for  this  reason  it  is  the  librarian's  duty  to 
make  himself  fully  acquainted  with  the  curriculum  from  the  kindergarten 
to  the  high  school,  m  order  to  meet  the  first  requirements  of  the  school, 
which  must  consist  in  aiding  the  teacher's  work  in  the  daily  lessons.  The 
teachers  should  draw  from  the  library  all  such  books  as  bear  upon  the 
lessons  in  hand,  make  their  pupils  early  acquainted  with  the  fact  that 
there  is  more  knowledge  to  be  had  from  books  in  general  than  from  the 
text  book  alone.  In  this  manner  at  a  very  early  age,  children  can  be 
taught  that  reading  may  be  made  useful  to  school  work,  which  fact  alone 
will  lead  the  child  to  research,  the  basis  of  true  scholarship.    Under  this 


106  UNIVERSITY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK  [June  2$ 

head  should  also  be  mentioned  early  instruction  in  the  proper  use  of  refer- 
ence books,  dictionaries,  cyclopedias  and  indexes.  This  is  the  first  func- 
tion of  the  library,  to  be  helpful  to  the  public  school  in  its  daily  work. 

The  second  point  under  consideration  must  be  the  united  efforts  of 
library  and  school  to  lead  young  people  to  the  best  reading  matter. 
Here  the  librarian  alone  can  do  but  little.  The  teacher  however  knows 
more  of  the  individual  pupil  in  her  school  than  the  library  official,  who 
only  occasionally  meets  him  at  the  delivery  desk.  A  word  of  advice  and 
guidance  is  received  with  better  grace  from  the  teacher  than  from  the 
librarian  who,  as  young  people  believe,  has  no  other  duty  than  to  give  them 
what  they  ask  for  without  criticism  or  comment. 

A  great  improvement  in  the  general  character  of  the  reading  of  young 
people  has  taken  place  during  the  past  years  since  the  introduction  of  the 
regents  reading  courses.  I  myself  have  conducted  several  such  classes, 
consisting  of  students  from  our  schools  as  well  as  young  people  from 
our  factories;  and  I  have  found  that  all  of  these  young  people  have  not 
only  been  benefited,  but  have  really  enjoyed  the  good  reading  which  was 
so  brought  before  them.  Whether  the  credits  were  of  some  stimulus  or 
not,  is  materially  indifferent.  The  facts  are  these  :  the  young  people  who 
have  read  these  books  together  and  discussed  them,  enjoyed  them;  and 
after  reading  them  a  large  number  have  stated  to  me  that  they  never  sup- 
posed that  good  reading  was  such  pleasant  reading  and  that  hereafter 
they  will  not  read  books  of  any  other  character. 

I  am  also  very  glad  to  see  that  the  regents  have  introduced  a  course 
of  historical  reading,  and  I  do  firmly  believe  that  classes  in  higher  geogra- 
phy could  be  formed  and  be  required  to  read  selections  from  the  very 
best  books  of  travel. 

The  school  you  see,  has  the  functions  to  prepare  our  young  people  for 
the  actual  duties  of  life,  for  the  duties  of  citizenship,  for  the  high  aspira- 
tion to  an  ideal  manhood.  You  must  admit  that  the  lives  of  noble  men 
inspire  the  average  boy  or  girl  to  emulation,  that  the  reading  of  books 
containing  noble  thought  will  reproduce  in  the  mind  of  the  reader  high  and 
noble  thoughts,  and  noble  thoughts  will  lead  to  acts  unsullied  by  selfish- 
ness, will  give  to  mankind  a  higher  aim  in  life,  and  something  better  to 
strive  for  than  the  almighty  dollar  and  ward  politics.  Good  citizen- 
ship, noble  manhood  and  womanhood  will  be  the  result  of  such  training, 
and  blessed  will  be  the  teacher  who  has  sown  the  seed  for  such  aspirations. 

The  next  step  is  obvious;  after  the  teacher  has  made  her  pupils 
acquainted  with  the  fact  that  the  text  book  alone  contains  but  meager  in- 
formation, that  there  is  an  abundance  of  books  which  bear  on  the  subject 


1896J  CORRELATION  OF  LIBRARY  AND  SCHOOL  107 

taught  in  the  class,  some  of  the  pupils  will  voluntarily  read  up  and  pre- 
pare their  lessons  from  outside  sources,  and  in  this  way  the  library  will 
aid  the  teacher's  work.  There  is  one  more  step ;  it  is  evident  that  pupils 
trained  in  this  manner  will  be  trained  to  investigate  independently  and 
will  acquire  that  desire  for  knowledge  which  produces  true  scholarship 
and  original  research.  This  desire  if  properly  cared  for  will  never  leave 
them,  and  the  school  having  laid  the  foundation,  they  will  continue  to 
improve  themselves  when  their  school  days  are  over. 

Such  utilization  of  libraries  by  public  schools  is  already  found  in  many 
places  in  which  there  are  either  public  libraries  or  school  libraries. 
Boston  has  recently  appropriated  $10,000  for  the  purpose  of  making  a 
more  intimate  connection  between  the  public  libraries  and  the  public 
schools.  Chicago  makes  it  obligatory  for  public  school  teachers  to  visit 
the  public  library  with  their  classes  at  least  once  every  term.  The  New 
York  free  circulating  library,  the  libraries  of  Providence,  R.  I.,  Worcester,. 
Mass.,  Yonkers,  Jamestown,  Glens  Falls,  and  Gloversville  have  well 
organized  systems  of  cooperation  with  the  schools. 

Wisconsin  which  annually  provides  selected  lists  for  its  school  libraries, 
has  recently  appointed  a  commission  to  aid  in  establishing  and  maintain- 
ing public  libraries.  In  their  circular  they  say,  "  There  is  not  only  a 
growing  interest  in  the  foundation  of  free  libraries,  but  a  provision  to 
make  those  already  established  more  helpful  to  the  public  schools." 

But  after  all,  no  matter  how  well  selected  the  library  is,  no  matter  how 
zealous  and  enthusiastic  the  librarian  may  be,  this  alone  will  accomplish 
but  little.  Success  will  mainly  depend  on  the  part  taken  by  the  superin- 
tendent and  the  teachers  in  this  cooperation  of  school  and  library.  The 
best  work  of  this  kind,  it  seems  to  me,  has  been  done  in  Glens  Falls, 
where  Sup't  Williams  has  planned  a  complete  course  in  literature  and 
reading,  running  through  the  entire  curriculum  of  12  years.  He  insists 
that  pupils  shall  read  good  literature  in  the  schools,  that  good  literature 
shall  be  read  to  them  by  their  teachers,  that  they  shall  read  good  litera- 
ture at  home,  that  they  shall  commit  to  memory  and  be  drilled  in  the 
oral  delivery  of  selections  from  good  literature.  Permit  me  to  quote  from 
the  introduction  to  his  course  in  literature  :  "  Three  years  experience 
with  the  plan  has  produced  better  results  than  we  expected."  To  his 
teachers  Sup't  Williams  says,  "  You  can  do  no  more  valuable  work  in 
school  than  to  develop  in  your  pupils  a  love  for  good  reading."  He  also 
stated  to  me  that  he  has  frequently  refused  to  promote  pupils  if  the 
required  amount  of  reading  has  not  been  satisfactorily  done. 


io8  UNIVERSITY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK  [June  25 

The  method  pursued  by  the  Gloversville  library  is  simply  this :  the 
librarian  attends  teachers  meetings,  visits  the  schools  as  often  as  it  seems 
advisable,  specially  those  rooms  to  which  the  teachers  invite  him,  believ- 
ing that  his  personal  influence  may  do  some  good;  the  teachers  also  send 
to  the  library  requests  for  books  on  certain  topics,  for  which  the  librarian 
prepares  special  lists;  the  books  are  then  held  for  the  use  of  the  children. 
Teachers  are  also  permitted  to  take  a  number  of  books  for  the  use  of 
their  classes,  and  these  books  are  then  circulated  by  the  teachers  just  as 
if  they  formed  a  part  of  the  school  library.    Classes  of  pupils  visit  the 
library  accompanied  by  their  teachers.    During  these  visits,  a  topic  is 
suggested  by  the  teacher  and  the  manner  in  which  information  on  the 
subject  may  be  gained  from  books  contained  in  the  library  is  shown  and 
explained  by  the  librarian,  with  special  attention  to  the  proper  use  of 
indexes,  reference  books  and  catalogues.    While  this  work  was  always 
encouraged  by  the  superintendent  and  he  generally  found  most  of  the 
teachers  willing  to  cooperate,  yet  owing  to  the  fact  that  a  course  in  read- 
ing and  literature  has  never  been  included  in  the  curriculum,  the  work 
probably  lacks  that  strength  and  efficiency  which  it  may  have  in  Glens 
Falls.    During  the  school  year  just  closed,  the  57  teachers  employed  in  the 
various  schools  of  Gloversville  have  used  1,200  books,  590  of  which  have 
been  taken  directly  for  their  work,  while  the  pupils  have  drawn  during 
the  same  period  of  time,  in  addition  to  geneial  reading  matter,  645  vol- 
umes supplementary  to  their  studies. 

As  said  before,  the  success  of  work  of  this  kind  will  simply  depend 
upon  what  use  our  teachers  and  superintendents  will  make  of  the  library. 
I  received  from  time  to  time  letters  in  which  enthusiastic  librarians  will  ask 
the  question  "  What  can  I  do  to  rouse  the  teachers'  interest  and  make 
them  less  indifferent  to  the  home  reading  of  their  pupils  and  to  the  pos- 
sibilities of  making  the  library  useful  in  their  daily  work  ?  "  My  reply  is, 
try  to  interest  the  superintendent  and  principals ;  and  for  this  reason,  I 
welcome  this  opportunity  to  come  face  to  face  with  the  assembled 
principals  and  superintendents,  the  members  of  this  convocation.  And  I 
would  earnestly  plead  with  you  to  give  to  this  matter  of  cooperation  of 
library  and  school  your  kind  and  serious  attention.  You  will  find  that  a 
word  of  advice  and  guidance  from  you  will  bring  teachers  in  line  in  this 
important  educational  work.  You  will  also  find  that  the  library  officials 
will  be  ready  to  listen  to  your  advice,  be  grateful  for  your  suggestions  and 
willing  to  cooperate  with  you.  They  will  arrange  their  purchases  of  books 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  make  their  libraries  useful  to  all  classes  and  grades 
of  schools. 


i896] 


CORRELATION  OF  LIBRARY  AND  SCHOOL 


IO9 


I  think  the  time  has  come  when  carefully  planned  cooperation  of 
library  and  school  will  enter  upon  the  curriculum  of  every  school,  and 
that  there  shall  be  no  school,  however  small,  in  this  state  without  access 
to  at  least  a  small  library.  In  order  to  bring  this  about,  I  would  humbly 
beseech  you,  and  through  you  the  regents,  that  at  the  next  session  of  the 
legislature  the  University  law  be  so  amended  as  to  include  a  comprehensive 
compulsory  library  law,  similar  to  that  of  New  Hamphshire  (N.  H.  laws 
of  1895,  ch.  118)  with  the  additional  provision  that  wherever  the  amount 
raised  by  tax  does  not  exceed  $10,  or  be  not  sufficient  to  support  even  a 
small  library,  such  school  district  shall  apply  to  the  regents  for  a  traveling 
library.  These  carefully  selected  traveling  libraries  will  become  powerful 
factors  of  public  education  in  the  state  of  New  York.  There  has  been  as 
yet  too  little  appreciation  expressed  for  this  benefaction  introduced  by 
our  friend,  the  honored  secretary  of  the  University,  and  his  efficient  co- 
laborer,  Mr  Eastman,  to  whose  zeal  and  activity  the  schools  as  well  as  the 
libraries  of  the  state  of  New  York  owe  a  lasting  debt  of  gratitude. 

I  am  also  gratified  to  see  that  in  the  latest  report  of  the  department  of 
public  instruction,  Sup't  Skinner  calls  attention  to  this  important  coopera- 
tion of  library  and  school.  He  says  "When  skilful  teachers  no  longer 
consider  it  their  chief  duty  to  pour  information  into  minds  not  always  re- 
ceptive, but  rather  to  stimulate  and  direct  research  into  the  history  of 
human  experience  and  observation,  to  quicken  perception  and  strengthen 
the  power  to  reason,  then  the  existence  and  character  of  school  libraries 
become  matters  of  very  high  importance." 

With  your  kind  cooperation  and  the  cooperation  of  all  the  teachers  of 
this  land,  the  time  will  come  when  the  schools  will  prepare  our  youth  in 
due  appreciation  of  the  very  best  books,  so  that  every  child  who  leaves  the 
school  will  be  so  imbued  with  the  desire  for  knowledge,  that  after  leaving 
school  he  will  continue  his  studies.  Then  will  the  library  become  the 
true  college,  the  true  university  of  the  people,  and  will,  so  to  say,  supple- 
ment the  work  well  done  in  our  lower  schools. 

ON  THE  PART  OF  THE  SCHOOL 

BY  SUP'T  JAMES  A.   ESTEE,   GLOVERS VI LLE 

The  X  rays  responded  to  the  fiat  "  Let  there  be  light."  During  all  the 
ages  past  they  have  been  literally  a  "  light  shining  in  darkness  though  the 
darkness  comprehended  it  not."  The  analogy  to  the  public  libraries  of 
the  past  and  present  is  obvious. 

The  Alexandrian  library,  containing  from  400,000  to  700,000  volumes 
rich  with  the  lore  of  India,  Egypt,  Greece  and  Rome,  existed  and  perished 


no 


UNIVERSITY  OF  THE   STATE  OF  NEW  YORK  [June  25 


at  the  hands  of  religious  fanaticism,  while  thousands  living  within  its 
shadow  were  not  the  wiser  nor  the  better  for  its  existence.  The  Pisistra- 
tan  library  of  Athens,  the  Ulpian  library  of  Rome  were  not  in  reality  the 
property  of  the  populace.  The  fall  of  Constantinople  released  the  art 
and  literature  imprisoned  in  the  Byzantine  empire,  and  the  intellectual 
and  moral  renaissance  of  the  western  world  with  its  rich  heritage  for  the 
present  age  was  the  result. 

The  most  valuable  portion  of  the  public  libraries  of  the  present  time 
is  a  vaulted  treasure,  accessible  cnly  to  the  relatively  few  cultured  minds 
who  have  learned  the  combinations  of  the  safe.  The  value  of  a  public 
library  consists  not  in  its  possession,  but  in  its  use  by  the  public.  What- 
ever of  enjoyment,  refinement,  culture  and  power  it  has  in  the  past  con- 
ferred upon  the  few  is  equally  the  privilege  of  all.  Our  system  of  public 
schools  is  the  only  agency  by  which  the  people  can  be  prepared  to  use 
the  literary  wealth  stored  in  our  libraries,  and  if  the  teachers  are  equal  to 
their  present  opportunities,  an  intellectual  and  moral  awakening  not 
second  to  that  of  the  middle  ages  will  be  the  result.  Until  the  effort  has 
been  faithfully  and  persistently  made,  we  shall  never  know  how  much 
can  be  accomplished  in  the  way  of  u  spiritualizing  the  lives  of  the  people" 
by  bringing  them  while  children  in  contact  with  the  best  literature. 

It  was  formerly  supposed  that  only  a  collegiate  education  could  pre- 
pare a  man  to  appreciate  and  utilize  the  resources  of  the  library,  but 
since  only  a  small  per  cent  of  our  students  ever  enter  college,  we  must 
prepare  them  to  pass  from  the  public  schools  into  the  true  university,  as 
Carlyle  terms  the  library. 

To  accomplish  this  object,  the  students  must  be  taught,  not  only  how 
to  read,  but  what  to  read,  and  to  read,  to  read  till  it  becomes  a  second 
nature,  a  part  of  life.  The  subject  of  English  literature  must  be  placed 
not  at  the  last,  but  at  the  beginning  of  the  curriculum  of  studies  and  be 
continued  throughout  the  entire  course,  from  the  kindergarten  to  the 
classical  diploma.  The  time  is  short  in  which  to  lay  the  foundation  taste 
of  a  life  time. 

It  is  the  testimony  of  all  who  have  engaged  in  this  work  that  the 
antidote  for  the  virus  of  immoral  literature  is  prevention.  Pernicious 
books  are  the  food  of  idle  minds  and  find  no  place  where  time,  attention, 
and  interest^  e  early  and  healthfully  employed.  Every  valuable  book 
with  which  the  young  become  acquainted  is  an  unchangeable  friend 
secured,  and  as  "the  mind  sinks  or  rises  to  the  level  of  its  habitual 
society,"  let  the  children  make  friends  only  with  those  books  which  com- 
mand their  respect,  and  the  friends  of  their  youth  will  be  the  friends  of  a 


i896] 


CORRELATION  OF  LIBRARY  AND  SCHOOL 


III 


lifetime.  The  problem  of  correlating  the  schools  and  the  library  can  be 
solved  only  by  so  arranging  and  conducting  the  work  of  the  schools  that 
the  library  becomes  an  indispensable  adjunct  of  every  department.  Out- 
line plans  for  the  study  of  literature  should  be  as  thoughtfully  prepared 
as  are  those  for  nature  work  and  arithmetic.  A  certain  amount  will 
necessarily  be  generalized,  but  a  portion  should  be  specified  and  definite, 
while  the  courses  in  other  subjects  are  such  as  to  make  an  alliance  with 
the  library  necessary.  The  interest  of  the  teachers  must  be  aroused  to 
enthusiasm  and  every  facility  afforded  for  the  successful  prosecution  of 
the  work.  Above  all  they  must  feel  assured  of  respect  and  encourage- 
ment for  original  devices  and  methods,  and  furnished  with  ready  informa- 
tion upon  any  subject.  Earnest  teachers  will  eagerly  avail  themselves  of 
library  aids  in  supplementing  their  class  work  pleasantly  and  effectively, 
in  arousing  interest  and  warding  off  apathy  or  indifference  in  their  pupils; 
but,  if  a  teacher  has  no  use  for  the  library  either  in  her  own  interest  or  in 
behalf  of  her  pupils,  evidently  she  has  no  call  to  teach. 

Neither  does  this  work  afford  occasion  of  display  for  a  machine  teacher 
—  for  one  who  worships  system  and  forgets  the  child,  for  it  is  necessary 
to  individualize  the  pupils,  to  study  the  tastes,  environment,  needs  and 
possibilities  of  each.  A  teacher's  success  can  not  be  estimated  by  the 
attitude  of  the  bright  adaptable  pupils  toward  the  subject,  but  by  the 
encouragement  which  she  gives  to  the  indifferent,  by  her  ability  to  create 
a  desire  for  good  reading  where  none  existed  or  where  home  influences 
antagonize  those  of  the  school. 

The  same  winning  tact  which  is  an  indispensable  qualification  of  the 
successful  music  teacher  is  required  in  this  work.  Children  will  read  as 
they  sing,  not  because  compelled  to  do  so,  but  because  it  is  a  privilege 
and  a  delight. 

The  cultivation  of  judgment  and  discrimination  in  the  choice  of  books 
should  characterize  the  entire  course.  No  stereotyped  system  should 
preclude  individual  choice.  A  teacher  should  quote  and  teach  from  her 
favorite  authors.  She  may  ride  her  literary  hobby  if  she  be  so  fortunate 
as  to  have  a  good  one.  She  will  then  serve  her  pupils  not  by  her  weak- 
ness but  by  her  strength.  Each  pupil  has  a  right  within  limits  of  right 
to  select  those  books  which  are  in  harmony  with  his  natural  tastes  and 
abilities.  The  benefits  derived  from  a  book  or  a  course  of  reading  are 
enhanced  if  the  scholar  be  allowed  the  just  satisfaction  of  having  chosen 
to  read  it.  It  is  a  greater  achievement  to  have  inspired  a  boy  to  choose 
well  for  himself  than  to  have  required  the  reading  of  the  same  or  even 
better. 


JI2 


UNIVERSITY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK  [June  25 


A  girl  in  the  sentimental  haze,  when  all  the  world  is  to  love  or  to  be 
loved  needs  a  sympathetic  hand  to  guide  her  away  from  the  quicksands 
of  those  novels  which  suggest  a  questionable  morality,  but  which  by  some 
strange  freak  of  public  taste  seem  more  acceptable  at  the  present  time 
than  those  which,  like  Black's  Briseus,  furnish  the  required  sentiment  in 
health  giving  purity. 

Beecher  rightly  said  "The  children  are  not  so  much  to  be  taught  as  to 
be  trained."  To  teach  a  child  is  to  give  him  ideas  — to  train  him  is  to 
enable  him  to  reduce  those  ideas  to  practice.  This  is  particularly  appli- 
cable to  library  work. 

Children  can  not  be  expected  to  avail  themselves  spontaneously  of 
library  privileges,  but  they  must  be  trained  for  it  just  as  in  the  lower 
grades  they  are  introduced  to  the  subjects  which  follow  in  the  higher.  In 
the  Gloversville  schools  the  means  employed  for  interesting  the  pupils  in 
library  work  are  as  various  as  the  ingenuity  of  the  teachers  may  devise. 

Supplementary  reading  holds  first  rank  among  the  influences  which  in 
our  schools  lead  up  to  the  use  of  the  library.  For  this  purpose  suitable 
books  are  furnished  by  our  board  of  education  in  sets  of  from  35  to  50 
copies  each,  which  touch  upon  almost  every  range  of  thought  within  the 
comprehension  of  the  pupils.  The  number  of  sets  is  augmented  year  by 
year,  and  by  exchange  among  the  schools,  new  books  and  subjects  are 
constantly  read  and  discussed  under  the  supervision  of  the  teacher  in 
regular  class  work.  With  these  are  introduced  books  from  the  library 
suggested  by  the  school  work,  which  are  frequently  used  for  sight  read- 
ing, the  more  difficult  portions  being  read  and  explained  by  the  teachers. 
In  this  way  interest  and  endeavor  are  stimulated  and  the  children  are  led 
to  appreciate  and  enjoy  books  which  would  seem  beyond  their  com- 
prehension. 

Imagination  is  the  key  without  which  much  of  the  best  literature  is  a 
sealed  book,  and  the  guidance  and  direction  of  this  faculty  are  a  part  of 
the  early  literature  work.  It  must  be  made  certain  that  the  exercise  of 
the  imagination  does  not  antagonize  absolute  truthfulness.  They  are 
elements  in  the  chemistry  of  intellect,  and  though  they  may  adhere,  the 
one  must  rot  alloy  or  destroy  the  other.  The  failure  of  parents  and 
teachers  to  understand  the  relation  between  the  two,  has  wrought  con- 
fusion and  terror  to  many  an  innocent  child. 

Encouraged  to  draw  on  his  imagination  for  games  and  amusements, 
he  peoples  his  little  world  with  brownies  and  animals  of  every  clime, 
but,  a  "little  older  grown"  and  continuing  the  same  mental  process,  he 
is  suddenly  arraigned  before  the  bar  of  parental  justice  for  having  told  an 


1896]  CORRELATION  OF  LIBRARY  AND  SCHOOL  II3 

untruth.  The  child  can  not  explain  and  the  parents  fail  to  analyze  or 
comprehend,  and  there  results  a  mysterious  alienation,  all  for  want  of  a 
nicety  of  touch  in  adjusting  the  relationship  between  imagination  and 
truthfulness.  To  correlate  these  is  the  first  responsibility  of  the  teacher 
when  introducing  fiction  to  a  young  child's  mind. 

Recreation  books  are  quite  as  essential  as  are  books  of  instruction  and 
are  freely  distributed  in  recognition  of  good  conduct  or  tasks  completed. 

School  room  museums  are  second  only  to  supplementary  reading  as  in- 
centives to  the  use  of  the  library.  These  museums  are  furnished  largely 
by  the  children  with  curios  of  all  kinds  brought  from  their  homes  or  lent 
to  them  by  their  friends ;  hence,  they  are  constantly  changing  and  give 
renewed  interest  and  zest  to  the  work  of  both  teachers  and  pupils.  They 
include  marine  specimens,  petrified  mosses  and  woods,  curios  of  Japanese 
art,  Chinese  gods,  gold  and  other  ores,  old  coins,  laces,  china,  old  papers 
and  books  representing  some  of  the  earliest  types  of  printing.  Indian  im- 
plements and  foreign  specimens  ad  infinitum.  They  serve  as  so  many  in- 
terrogation points  and  in  classifying  them  and  tracing  them  to  their 
original  homes  in  the  earth,  the  air  or  the  sea,  in  discovering  their  uses  and 
the  country  or  period  to  which  they  belong  a  large  number  of  children's 
books  upon  natural  science,  adventure,  travel  and  history  are  consulted 
and  read  by  the  children.  Their  window  gardens,  insect  collections  and 
well  stocked  aquariums  still  farther  increase  the  demand. 

Frequently  questions  suggested  by  their  nature  or  geography  woik  are 
placed  on  the  board,  and  library  books  bearing  upon  the  subject  are  dis- 
tributed among  the  children.  They  are  shown  how  to  use  the  indexes 
and  readily  learn  to  glean  information  from  books  other  than  their  own 
textbooks.  As  an  encouragement  to  home  and  recreation  reading,  in- 
teresting extracts  or  short  stories  are  read  and  commented  upon  by  the 
teachers,  and  the  children  mention  for  the  others  some  of  the  most  in- 
teresting books  which  they  have  obtained  from  the  library  and  tell  why 
they  like  them.  Reproduction  exercises  and  reports  upon  their  home 
reading  are  given  whenever  requested.  A  teacher  of  the  fourth  grade 
states  that  during  the  year  the  number  of  pupils  who  take  books  from  the 
library  has  increased  sixfold,  while  the  reading  of  second  rate  stories  has 
correspondingly  decreased. 

The  demand  for  juvenile  books  which  has  been  created  by  this  feature 
of  the  new  education,  has  resulted  in  large  accessions  to  this  department 
of  literature,  and  the  field  is  wide  and  rich  from  which  to  choose.  For 
this  reason  the  greater  care  is  necessary  in  selection. 


ii4 


UNIVERSITY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK  [June  25 


The  "  goody-goody  "  books  are  not  limited  to  Mark  Twain's  Sunday 
school  library,  they  are  found  among  books  of  science  for  children,  among 
mythological  stories,  children's  classics  and  sometimes  even  in  pseudo- 
temperance  literature.  They  may  apparently  be  all  that  could  be  desired, 
but  recommendation  fails  to  awaken  any  enthusiasm  for  them  in  the 
minds  of  the  children. 

We  wish  books  which  do  not  preach  but  which  teach  forcibly  and  irre- 
sistably  lessons  in  morality,  each  one  of  which  contributes  something 
towards  the  ultimate  object  of  this  work,  the  building  of  character. 

Only  a  writer  who  loves  children,  some  special  children  perhaps,  as  a 
nucleus  of  the  broader  child  love,  can  enter  the  "holy  of  holies"  of  a 
child's  sympathy  and  affection.  To  compete  successfully  in  the  lists  of 
authorship  for  children,  the  conditions  are  those  required  for  entering  the 
kingdom  of  Heaven.  One  must  become  as  a  little  child,  must  see  with 
the  eyes  of  children,  hear  with  their  ears,  with  pulses  bounding  with 
their  joy. 

Most  of  the  really  successful  books  for  children  have  been  tried  on 
children  in  the  process  of  their  construction,  have  like  Kingsley's  Water 
babies  or  Little  Lord  Fanntleroy  grown  out  of  child  life. 

Children  of  unvitiated  tastes  are  good  judges  of  literature  for  children, 
and  to  some  degree,  they  may  be  permitted  to  select  for  themselves,  pro- 
vided that  while  young  they  have  none  but  the  safe  and  best  from  which 
to  choose. 

If  each  of  the  primary  principals  of  this  and  other  states  who  have 
had  successful  experience  in  this  work  were  to  furnish  a  list  of  those 
books  which  she  had  used  most  advantageously,  and  from  these  lists,  those 
designated  by  a  consensus  of  favorable  opinion  were  selected,  the  nucleus 
of  a  valuable  working  library  would  be  formed,  to  which  accretions  would 
be  added  from  year  to  year  by  a  continuation  of  test  plan  and  the  sur- 
vival of  the  fittest. 

The  custom  of  teaching  memory  gems  from  standard  authors  is  a  fruit- 
ful source  of  library  work,  provided  these  "  gems"  are  not  separated  from 
their  setting.  Preserve  the  association  with  the  author,  the  poem,  the 
time  or  the  circumstance,  and  the  gem  will  not  get  lost  but  will  increase 
in  value  by  leading  to  further  search.  The  extract  from  Hiawatha  affords 
illustration,  where  he 

Learned  of  every  bird  its  language,  .  .  . 
Talked  with  them  whene'er  he  met  them, 
Called  them  Hiawatha's  chickens. 


i896] 


CORRELATION  OF  LIBRARY  AMD  SCHOOL 


In  the  choruses  were  given  the  chirps  and  songs  with  which  Hiawatha's 
chickens  answered  his  call  and  the  association  with  the  author  was  pre- 
served, whose  portrait  was  before  them  framed  in  dainty  flowers  and  grasses 
by  the  children.  Pictures  of  the  three  little  children  who  loved  and  were 
beloved  by  Longfellow  were  shown  in  connection  with  the  Children's 
hour.  While  cultivating  memory,  the  imagination  and  affections  were 
stirred  and  Longfellow  had  a  permanent  place  in  each  little  heart. 

The  logical  sequence  of  this  exercise  was  witnessed  in  one  of  the  high 
school  rooms.  First  was  given  an  illustrated  description  of  Longfellow's 
native  place.  Then  a  biographic  sketch,  followed  by  essays  giving  a 
history  of  the  preparation  and  influence  of  his  chief  poems  with  the  object 
which  he  had  in  view  in  their  preparation,  and  an  abstract  of  Evange- 
line. His  prose  works  were  discussed  and  selections  from  them  given 
by  the  other  students.  The  declamations  and  readings  were  from  his 
works  and  a  box  of  questions  and  comment  was  skilfully  handled  by  one 
of  the  students.  A  brief  summary  of  the  lessons  to  be  learned  from  the 
study  of  his  character  was  illustrated  by  incidents  connected  with  his 
home  and  student  life  and  public  career,  showing  his  heart  kindliness 
even  under  unfavorable  or  unjust  criticism. 

In  the  preparation  of  these  and  similar  exercises,  not  only  are  the  works 
of  the  author  called  for,  but  works  on  American  literature,  magazine 
articles,  literary  criticism  and  correspondence.  Exhaustive  demands  are 
frequently  made  on  the  library  in  similar  studies  of  artists,  statesmen  or 
questions  of  public  interest.  For  a  time,  declamations  are  selected  from 
a  specified  group  of  authors,  necessitating  at  least  an  inciting  acquaintance 
with  their  writing,  and  specially  with  "  those  passages  which  have  made 
some  men  immortal." 

They  are  also  frequently  required  to  glean  the  salient  points  from  many 
authorities  on  a  given  subject,  and  with  only  a  few  notes  to  guide  them, 
present  an  unwritten  article  for  rhetorical  exercises,  after  which  the  views 
of  other  students  on  the  same  or  related  subjects  are  given. 

The  studies  in  English  reading,  English  literature,  composition  and 
rhetoric  are  largely  augmented  by  selections  from  the  library,  and  the 
classes  in  ancient  and  modern  history  by  reference  to  the  different  sources 
of  information  learn  to  weigh  the  value  of  differing  opinions  and  to  draw 
their  own  conclusions  from  contradictory  statements. 

In  the  study  of  the  natural  sciences  students  are  in  constant  consulta- 
tion with  the  books  and  periodicals  of  the  library  for  the  latest  opinions 
of  different  authorities  on  the  subjects  under  discussion  and  are  conversant 
with  the  progress  of  scientific  investigations,  inventions  and  discoveries. 


Il6  UNIVERSITY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK  [June  25 

A  lyceum  organized  and  maintained  by  the  high  school  is  also  in  con- 
stant communication  with  the  library  and  reading  room  in  the  prepara- 
tion and  presentation  of  its  weekly  programs  and  public  debates. 

These  are  a  few  of  the  many  methods  employed  for  coordinating  the 
work  of  the  schools  and  the  library.  The  question  becomes  not  how 
may  students  be  induced  to  use  the  library  ?  but  how  would  it  be  possible 
to  prosecute  the  different  departments  of  school  work  without  its  aid  ? 

Our  high  school  students  give  evidence  of  the  effect  of  this  early  train- 
ing in  the  lower  grades.  The  use  of  the  library  is  growing  perceptibly 
from  year  to  year  and  the  classes  which  now  graduate  from  the  high 
school  are  better  than  ever  before  prepared  to  appreciate,  appro- 
priate and  assimilate  the  advantages  still  open  to  them  in  the  library 
university. 

The  new  education  has  no  more  practical  feature  than  this  training. 
It  brightens  many  homes;  it  forestalls  desultory  reading;  it  gives  to  the 
reading  habit  permanence  and  purpose;  it  lightens  the  tedium  of  class 
work  and  supplements  the  text  books  in  every  department,  and  in  its 
reflex  influence  on  the  teachers  tends  to  broaden  their  intellectual 
horizon. 

It  is  the  most  important  as  it  is  the  most  comprehensive  in  its  results  of 
any  department  of  our  work,  for  the  most  valuable  portion  of  a  man's 
education  will  be  gained  all  through  life  by  what  he  reads.  In  his  later 
experiences  other  subjects  are  discontinued,  the  world  comes  to  be 
bounded  north,  east,  south  and  west  by  the  interests  of  the  counting 
room  or  office;  higher  mathematics  has  as  fictitious  a  value  as  the  co- 
efficient of  x  in  an  indeterminate  equation  and  is  summed  up  in  the 
ledger.  Without  its  higher  significance,  language  comes  to  be  parsed  by 
the  type  writer,  but  if  the  best  literature  is  the  source  of  his  taste, 
knowledge,  habit  and  desire,  it  is  within  him  a  well  of  water,  vivifying  all 
the  streams  of  life. 


i896] 


HOW  TO  DEVELOP  INTEREST   IN  THE  LIBRARY 


II7 


HOW  TO  DEVELOP  INTEREST  IN  THE  LIBRARY 

BY  WILLIAM  E.  FOSTER,  PUBLIC  LIBRARIAN,  PROVIDENCE,  R.  I. 

In  what  has  already  been  said  this  morning,  the  possibility  of  making 
the  collections  of  books  in  our  public  libraries  an  appreciable  factor  in  the 
intellectual  life  of  the  community  has  been  sufficiently  shown.  Obviously 
this  will  not  be  the  result,  however,  where  interest  is  absent,  and  where  no 
lines  of  attraction  seem  to  be  operative  between  the  books,  on  the  one 
hand  and  the  readers  on  the  other  hand;  and  it  is  therefore  a  practical 
question,  for  any  of  you  to  ask  who  find  in  your  own  communities  so 
unfavorable  a  set  of  conditions  as  this,  namely  the  question  which  has 
been  assigned  me  to  speak  upon  —  "  How  to  develop  interest." 

This  language  has  been  chosen  advisedly,  rather  than,  for  instance, 
"  How  to  create  interest;  "  and  my  purpose  therefore  is  to  emphasize  the 
natural  rather  than  artificial  character  of  the  methods  to  be  employed.  In 
other  words,  the  librarian  and  library  committee  who  feel  the  need  of 
greater  progress  in  the  direction  already  indicated  are  not  called  upon  to 
evolve  materials  out  of  nothing.  They  are  rather  to  study  the  resources 
which  they  already  have;  and,  having  discovered  their  possibilities,  to 
use  them.  I  suppose  that  in  all  intellectual  work,  whether  with  libraries 
or  schools,  something  analogous  to  force  of  gravitation  in  mechanics  is 
constantly  to  be  reckoned  with  and  guarded  against  —  namely,  a  tendency 
to  regard  the  matter  in  an  unintelligent,  mechanical  manner,  scarcely  con- 
ceiving of  the  individual  reader  or  the  individual  book,  but  only  of  them 
both  in  the  mass,  precisely  as  one  would  speak  of  a  thousand  of  brick. 

Now,  the  closer  we  get  to  a  study  of  the  individual,  and  to  a  choice  of 
methods  based  on  a  knowledge  of  the  individual— whether  book  or  man 

 the  better  we  shall  get  on  in  this  matter.    I  am  convinced  that  too 

many  occasions  for  interesting  our  readers  in  the  contents  of  our  libraries 
slip  past  us  because  we  do  not  thoroughly  know  what  is  in  ihem.  Take 
this  as  a  concrete  illustration.  A  librarian  of  a  small  library  receives  in 
the  mail  one  morning  a  letter  from  one  of  the  library's  most  frequent 
benefactors,  which  reads  as  follows  :  "  Being  about  to  leave  unexpectedly 
for  Europe  for  an  absence  of  many  months,  I  send  your  library  a  dozen 
volumes  of  recent  essays  which  I  had  hoped  to  have  the  pleasure  of 
reading  this  summer  myself.'7  The  librarian,  giving  a  hurried  glance  at 
the  backs  of  the  books—  "  Critical  Kit-Kats,"  "  Retrospective  reviews," 
etc.  makes  this  mental  comment :  "  Of  course  he  meant  well,  but  there  is 
not  a  single  book  in  the  whole  lot  which  our  readers  will  ever  touch." 
Three  months  later,  some  one  belonging  to  a  club  which  has  taken  up 


1*8  UNIVERSITY  OF  THE   STATE  OF  NEW  YORK  [June  25 

the  study  of  Cuba,  states  incidentally  to  the  librarian  that  his  own  part 
in  it  is  to  be  the  poetry  of  Cuba,  on  which  he  has  been  disappointed  to 
find  so  little,  adding  that  if  he  could  only  find  something  worth  while  on 
Heredia,  the  greatest  of  the  Cuban  poets,  he  would  feel  a  little  consoled. 
"  Of  course  that  is  out  of  the  question  in  this  library,"  he  says,  and  the 
librarian  assents.  After  three  months  more,  as  the  librarian  is  moving 
some  books  from  one  shelf  to  another,  one  of  these  unappreciated 
volumes  of  recent  essays  (Mr  Gosse's  '-'  Critical  Kit-Kats,")  opens 
unexpectedly,  and,  still  more  unexpectedly,  lies  open  at  an  extended 
essay  on  Heredia.  Conceive  of  the  librarian's  dismay  at  thus  learning 
that,  quite  unknown  to  him,  the  very  thing  that  had  been  most  wanted 
had  been  in  his  hands  all  the  while. 

Such  an  instance  as  this  is  typical.  It  shows  the  notable  opportunities 
for  developing  and  maintaining  interest  which  are  constantly  slipping 
past,  if  one  has  not  fully  improved  the  opportunities  existing.  It  shows 
what  delightful  surprises  are  continually  in  store  for  the  librarian  who,  on 
the  other  hand,  is  able  to  put  his  finger  on  the  very  thing  wanted,  at  the 
very  time  when  it  is  wanted.  Let  me  go  further,  and  say  a  word  in 
regard  to  small  libraries.  Let  not  those  in  charge  of  these  libraries  sup- 
pose that  these  suggestions  are  not  for  them.  If  the  books  are  few,  then 
so  much  more  nearly  can  the  librarian  approach  —  approach,  I  say — to 
the  always  impossible  standard  of  knowing  them  all  —  or,  at  least  pluck- 
ing out  the  heart  of  their  mystery.  It  may  be  that  the  library  is  partly 
composed  of  books  no  longer  new.  But  I  know  an  instance  of  a  library 
which  received  a  few  years  ago  the  gift  of  the  George  Philip  11  Atlas  "  of 
the  world,  published  in  London  more  than  40  years  ago.  For  most  pur- 
poses, this  atlas  is  now  entirely  superseded,  but  a  librarian  who  remem- 
bered that  it  was  almost  alone  in  giving  so  full,  almost  lavish,  an  allowance 
of  space  to  some  of  the  smaller  West  India  islands,  was  able  to  delight  a 
prospective  traveller  bound  for  Trinidad,  by  placing  before  him  that 
island  on  a  larger  scale  than  he  had  dared  to  hope  for. 

If,  however,  the  first  requisite  in  developing  interest  is  that  the  librarian 
shall  know  his  books,  the  second  most  certainly  is  that  he  shall  know  his 
public ;  and  the  library  methods  which  have  a  bearing  on  this  phase  of 
the  subject  are  of  two  kinds  —  the  general  and  the  specific.  Under  the 
head  of  the  general  methods  in  reaching  the  public,  are  to  be  named  the 
catalogue,  the  finding-list,  the  bulletins,  etc. ;  and  the  reference  lists, 
whether  monthly,  weekly,  or  daily.  Under  the  head  of  specific  methods 
are  those  which  take  into  account  the  lectures,  concerts,  plays,  operas, 
etc.,  in  the  city  or  town;  the  study-clubs,  university  extension  centers, 


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HOW  TO  DEVELOP  INTEREST  IN  THE  LIBRARY 


II9 


etc. ;  the  relation  of  the  library  to  the  schools,  to  the  natural  history 
museum,  the  art  museum  or  art  school,  the  local  industries,  and  the 
departments  of  the  local  government,  the  press,  etc. ;  also  correspondence 
with  individual  readers;  and  verbal  conversation  with  them  at  the 
information  desk. 

Now  in  looking  at  these  two  groups  of  methods  in  succession,  let  us 
take  first  the  more  general  of  the  two,  as  being  that  which  is  capable  of 
being  put  into  operation  at  any  or  all  times,  and  as  not  requiring  the 
more  intimate  knowledge  of  individual  conditions  which  will  come  later 
and  with  fuller  opportunity  for  leisure.  In  the  library,  for  instance,  with 
which  I  am  most  familiar,  it  is  a  part  of  each  morning's  routine  work  to 
post  on  the  bulletin-board  references  to  some  subject  of  current  interest. 

As  an  instance,  during  the  last  week  in  May  the  newspapers  are  occu- 
pied with  the  festivities  connected  with  the  czar's  coronation.  Such  a 
paragraph,  after  being  cut  from  the  newspaper,  and  mounted,  has, 
entered  below  it,  such  references  as  these : 

For  a  plan  of  the  city  of  Moscow,  see  Reclus's  "  Europe,"  v.  5, 
P-  393-  400.13.5 

Murray's  Handbook  of  Russia. 

A  plan  of  the  Kremlin  and  its  immediate  neighborhood  is  at  p.  335  of 
Prime's  "  From  the  Alhambra  to  the  Kremlin."  406.10 

There  is  a  striking  view  of  the  Kremlin,  from  a  distance,  at  p.  130  of 
C.  A.  Stoddard's  "Across  Russia."  4067.40 

The  Cathedral  of  the  Assumption  is  shown  in  Scribner's  Monthly,  v.  5, 
p.  669.  054.17.5 

The  crowns  of  the  emperor  and  empress,  respectively,  are  shown  at 
p.  387  of  Jones'  "  Crowns  and  coronations."  8021.48 

The  "  Orloff  diamond  "  of  the  imperial  sceptre  is  described  in  chapter 
10  of  Streeter's  "  Great  diamonds  of  the  world."  6053.10 

The  coronation  ceremonies  of  1856  are  described  by  Count  Moltke. 
Those  of  1883  are  described  in  the  May  (1896)  Century.  4067.26 

So  frequently  has  it  happened,  from  the  very  first,  that  references 
on  a  subject  like  this  —  of  universal  interest  —  have  only  stimulated 
rather  than  satisfied  the  interest  of  the  public,  that  many  of  these  brief 
lists,  prepared  for  a  daily  reference,  are  developed  into  the  fuller  and 
more  inclusive  lists  for  the  monthly  bulletin. 

The  principle  underlying  this  method  and  similar  methods  is  that, 
"  being  precisely  in  the  line  of  what  is  at  the  time  uppermost  in  the 
thoughts  of  the  public,  it  commends  itself  to  their  notice  with  more  than 


120 


UNIVERSITY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK 


[June  25 


ordinary  directness.""  While,  under  ordinary  circumstances  the  chances 
might  be  about  one  in  20  that  a  reader  would  make  an  effort  to  take  out 
the  books  on  the  subject  in  question,  under  these  conditions  they  are 
about  one  in  10,  or  even  one  in  eight.  These  references  are  posted  in  the 
library  in  a  place  where  they  will  necessarily  be  seen  daily  by  a  large 
number  of  readers.  They  are  occasionally  reproduced  in  the  daily  news- 
papers, where  they  come  under  the  eye  of  a  very  much  larger  number  of 
readers ;  and  later,  as  already  stated,  are  printed  with  even  fuller  detail, 
in  the  library  bulletin,  which,  going  as  it  does,  into  the  hands  of  many 
school  teachers  and  others  interested  in  directing  the  reading  of  pupils, 
young  people  and  others,  greatly  widens  the  circle  of  influence. 

Nevertheless,  widespread  and  effective  as  is  the  influence  thus  secured, 
it  needs  to  be  supplemented  by  the  more  specific  methods ;  for  other- 
wise the  library's  efforts  are  "  like  using  a  rake  with  teeth  too  far  apart," 
as  I  have  had  occasion  to  express  it  elsewhere.5  I  would  urge  therefore 
that  the  librarian  should  constantly  make  his  conception  of  assistance  to 
readers  so  definite  and  so  specific,  that  in  considering  the  use  possible  to 
any  given  book,  he  shall  tiring  of  an  individual  reader  rather  than  of  read- 
ers in  the  mass. 

I  have  already  tried  to  meet  one  very  real  objection  which  would  be 
encountered  by  the  small  library  in  endeavoring  to  put  these  principles 
into  practice.  Let  me  touch  on  one  which  would  at  once  present  itself 
to  the  librarian  of  a  larger  library  —  namely  that  as  the  library  grows 
larger,  it  becomes  increasingly  difficult  even  to  meet  and  speak  with  the 
individual  readers.  This  is  a  very  real  difficulty  and  it  is  one  which  we 
have  successfully  met  in  our  own  case  (the  Providence  public  library)  by 
establishing  what  is  known  as  the  information  desk. 

In  this  connection,  we  take  occasion  to  reprint  an  account3  of  the  in- 
formation desk,  prepared  more  than  a  year  ago : 

Information  desk  work  is  a  development;  not  a  creation  out  of  wholly 
new  materials.  The  underlying  principles  are  familiar  ones  doubtless  in 
most  libraries,  but  the  particular  form  in  which  the  information  de-k  has 
developed  in  the  library  with  which  I  am  most  familiar,  has  been  the 
result  of  a  recognition  of  certain  difficulties  and  of  the  effort  to  meet 
them  in  the  most  effective  manner.  For  instance,  demands  of  the  same 
kind  which  are  now'  brought  to  the  information  desk,  have  from  the  be- 
ginning been  brought  to  the  library;  but  it  was  formerly  found  that  they 
came  with  a  sort  of  " scattering  fire"  all  along  the  line  of  clerks  who 

a"  Libraries  and  readers,"  Library  Journal,  3:26,  p.  51. 
b  TJ.  S.  Com'r  educ.  rep't,  1892-93,  v.  1,  p.  990-91 

3  A  paper  before  the  Massachusetts  library  club,  by  the  writer  Oct.  3,  1894.  It  is 
here  reprinted  from  the  Library  journal,  Nov.  1894,  v.  19,  p.  368-70. 


i896] 


HOW  TO  DEVELOP  INTEREST  IN  THE  LIBRARY 


121 


might  happen  to  be  in  sight,  in  frequent  instances  interfering  materially 
with  the  performance  of  their  routine  work.  It  was  consequently  a  distinct 
gain  to  concentrate  this  upon  one  person  whose  exclusive  duty  it  should 
be  to  supply  this  assistance.  But  not  all  the  questions  which  were  m  the 
minds  of  the  readers  even,  were  asked  under  the  former  method.  _  Long 
observation  confirmed  us  in  the  belief  that  many  readers  were  continually 
drifting  in  and  diifting  out  again,  without  venturing  to  bring  their  inquiries 
to  the  notice  of  any  of  the  clerks,  all  of  whom  seemed  absorbed  in  routine 
work.  As  at  present  arranged,  however,  the  position  of  the  information 
desk  is  such  that  it  necessarily  catches  the  eye  of  every  reader  on  enter- 
ing, and  the  cordial,  interested  reception  which  he  receives  almost  invari- 
ably emboldens  him  to  make  known  his  wants. 

In  establishing  such  a  department  in  a  library  certain  precautions  need 
to  be  kept  in  mind.  First,  it  would  be  obviously  unfortunate  if  it  should 
be  interpreted  as  a  proclamation  of  ability  to  answer  any  and  all  ques- 
tions. It  is  rather  a  tender  of  willingness  to  go  as  far  in  this  direction  as 
may  be  found  possible.  In  our  case  we  estimated  at  the  beginning  that 
about  10  per  cent  of  the  questions  would  probably  be  found  insoluble,  an 
estimate  which  has  proved  to  be  ludicrously  in  excess  of  the  true  amount. 
Secondly,  it  would  be  a  most  unfortunate  result  of  this  concentration  upon 
a  single  clerk  if  it  should  have  the  effect  of  rendering  the  work  an  un- 
wonted or  unfamiliar  one  to  the  remainder  of  the  staff—  a  difficulty  that 
would  settle  itself,  however,  by  the  necessity  in  every  library  of  providing 
substitutes  for  the  regular  clerk  at  meal  times,  or  during  illness,  or  when 
called  away  from  the  desk  for  a  longer  search  than  usual,  or  when  a 
"line"  of  applicants  forms  at  the  desk,  requiring  reinforcements  to  attend 
to  them  And,  conversely,  it  would  be  equally  unfortunate  if  there  should 
be  any  possibility  that  questions  should  be  answered  by  those  incompe- 
tent to  do  so.  One  of  the  first  requisites,  in  fact,  in  connection  with  this 
work,  is  the  recognition  of  one's  limitations,  so  that  the  light  which  one 
may  be  trying  to  furnish  may  not  prove  to  be  darkness.  There  must  be 
a  distinct  understanding  among  all  the  members  of  the  force  on  this  point, 
so  that  a  question  recognized  as  "beyond  the  depth"  of  the  one  to  whom 
it  may  chance  to  be  brought  may  be  appealed  to  a  higher  or  still  higher 
authority  —  to  some  one  outside  the  library  if  need  be.  Once  more,  it 
would  be  unfortunate  if  the  effect  of  this  feature  should  be  to  encourage 
laziness  in  the  reader.  There  is,  however,  no  inherent  reason  why  it 
should  do  so,  and  if  the  aim  of  the  clerk  in  charge  shall  be,  so  far  as  pos- 
sible, to  "help  readers  to  help  themselves,"  initiating  them  into  the  use  of 
reference  books  and  of  cataloguing  helps,  it  will  not  have  this  result. 

The  demands  which  concentrate  on  such  a  point  show  a  strikingly 
wide  range,  from  asking  for  a  time-table  of  Boston  trains,  to  verifying  the 
titles  of  books  blindly  named  in  17th  century  wills,  in  connection  with 
the  printing  of  early  records.  Much  use  of  the  mails  is  involved,  queries 
being  thus  received  and  also  answered,  both  in  the  case  of  resident  and 
non-resident  inquirers.  A  part  of  the  benefit  of  such  a  desk  is,  of  course, 
in  serving  as  a  "  steerer  "  to  the  reader  visiting  the  library  for  the  first 
time,  attracting  his  eye  at  first,  referring  him  to  the  registration  desk,  to 
obtain  a  card,  with  the  invitation  to  come  back  afterwards  for  assistance 
in  connection  with*  the  catalogues,  etc.  An  even  greater  benefit  is  per- 
haps that  of  breaking  into  the  aimless  attitude  often  characterizing  a 
visitor,  and,  by  answering  questions  in  regard  to  the  best  books  on  a  sub- 


1.2  2 


UNIVERSITY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK  [June  25 


ject,  or  the  best  edition  of  an  author,  getting  a  reader  started  on  a  course 
where  genuine  interest  compels  his  continuance.  Nor  is  there  less  differ- 
ence in  the  extent  to  which  the  information  sought  is  readily  found,  or 
the  reverse  While  in  some  cases  it  is  contained  in  some  one  of  those 
indispensable  tools  which  such  a  desk  should  have  within  reach,  in  other 
cases  it  is  to  be  had  only  by  going  outside  the  limits  of  the  library  itself, 
in  some  book  to  be  obtained  either  by  purchase,  gift,  or  temporary  loan 
from  some  other  library.  Much  of  the  work  of  such  a  desk  results  in  this 
way,  and  thus  performs  the  additional  service  of  indicating  some  of  the 
library's  weak  spots.  An  important  share  of  the  time  of  such  a  desk  is 
occupied  with  more  extended  lists  of  references,  whether  in  the  shape  of 
the  daily  or  weekly  lists  on  current  subjects,  or  those  prepared  from  time 
to  time  for  study  clubs  or  other  classes.  In  general,  it  is  safe  to  assume 
that  a  question  on  a. current  topic,  asked  by  one  reader,  will  be  worth 
answering  m  such  a  form  as  to  serve  for  other  readers  who  may  subse- 
quently ask  it.  It  is  true  that,  for  the  clerk  regularly  at  the  desk,  the  in- 
voluntary action  of  the  mind  soon  comes  to  serve  the  purpose  of  mentally 
"  pigeon-holing  "  the  information ;  yet,  particularly  for  the  benefit  of  those 
who  may  temporarily  fill  the  place,  it  will  be  worth  while  to  put  down  in 
black  and  white  the  most  of  what  is  found  by  searching.  In  this  connec- 
tion some  sort  of  alphabetical  index  to  the  materials  accumulated  will  be 
found  almost  inevitable,  even  if  so  planned  as  to  avoid  duplicating  the 
various  published  helps  of  the  Poole's  Index  type. 

Such  a  point  in  a  library  will  be  found  to  have  many  lines  of  con- 
nection with  important  and  even  widely  separated  fields.  Besides  those 
represented  by  the  schools,  university  extension  centers,  and  study  clubs, 
some  of  the  most  obvious  are  the  local  industries,  the  local  newspaper 
offices,  the  more  advanced  researches  prosecuted  by  scholars  either  within 
or  outside  the  local  community,  etc.  It  is  obvious  that  work  of  this  kind 
will  have  an  important  bearing  on  the  library's  collection  of  reference- 
books,  necessitating  the  strengthening  of  the  latter  wherever  a  need  is 
found  to  exist. 

Some  indispensable  requisites  in  connection  with  any  individual  who 
fills  the  position  should  be  named.  First,  a  marked  facility,  not  only  in 
"tracing,"  but  in  "pigeon-holing"  the  materials  of  a  subject.  Not  infre- 
quently some  of  the  most  signal  successes  in  answering  an  inquiry  are  by 
the  use  of  what  had  been  incidently  observed  when  looking  for  some- 
thing else,  but  now  remembered  to  good  purpose.  Second,  an  invincible 
hunger  for  thoroughness.  The  point  of  view  of  the  true  searcher  is -that 
one  can  never  come  to  the  end  of  a  subject.  Third,  a  sort  of  sixth  sense 
for  accuracy.  Fourth,  unbounded  tact.  Information  and  assistance 
should  be  supplied  where  obviously  desired,  but  if  Mr  Lowell  should 
make  application,  he  would  not  be  met  with  officious  instruction  or 
explanations,  but  the  information  desk  would  be  merely  a  channel 
through  which  he  would  obtain  the  books  of  which  he  would  be  the  best 
judge.  Tact  also  will  enable  a  clerk  at  this  post  to  keep  steadily  at  work 
on  the  business  in  hand,  and  yet  to  keep  an  eye  out,  so  to  speak,  for  all 
casual  readers,  to  see  that  they  do  not  miss  the  advantage  here  to  be 
gained.  Lastly,  there  must  be  an  utter  absence  of  the  perfunctory  spirit. 
Here,  as  everywhere,  work  which  is  done  from  a  love  of  the  work  counts 
for  most.  Not  a  little  of  the  value  of  the  service  rendered  at  this  desk 
is  due  to  the  manner  as  well  as  the  matter — the  bright  face  of  the  attend- 


i896J 


HOW  TO  DEVELOP  INTEREST  IN  THE  LIBRARY 


123 


ant  in  welcoming  the  inquirer,  the  evident  and  hearty  interest  with  which 
the  subject  is  taken  up,  and  the  quiet  hospitality  which  puts  the  timid 
reader  cit  his  Ccisc* 

It  remains  to  say  a  few  words  in  regard  to  the  attitude  of  the  public 
towards  such  help.  The  first  and  most  emphatic  feeling  is  probably  that 
of  surprise  that  the  library  should  aim  to  supply  help  of  so  definite  and 
comprehensive  a  nature.  This  initial  surprise  over,  there  is  likely  to  be  a 
constantly  increasing  utilization  of  the  facilities  afforded.  The  reason- 
ableness of  the  average  reader  is  another  interesting  fact.  When  the 
information  desk  wjs  first  established  in  the  library  which  I  represent,  it 
was  more  than  once  remarked:  "What  a  lot  of  foolish  questions  you 
are  going  to  have  brought  to  you."  But  these  anticipations  have  been 
strikingly  wide  of  the  mark,  and  nothing  is  so  exceptional  as  a  question 
of  that  nature.  Sometimes,  indeed,  one  has  seemed  to  be  coming  to  the 
surface,  as  when  the  question  was  asked  —  how  many  toothpicks  are 
annually  exported  from  this  country  ?  but  a  few  moments'  conversation 
revealed  the  fact  that  the  inquirer  was  a  lumber  dealer,  and  that  the  in- 
quiry was  exactly  in  the  line  of  his  business.  Another  constant  feature  is 
the  gratitude  of  the  public.  It  has  been  repeatedly  the  case  that  the 
inquirer  has  wished  to  pay  for  the  service  rendered.  It  has  then  been 
necessary  to  explain  that  there  would  be  no  more  appropriateness  in  tak- 
ing money  for  this  service  than  for  the  issue  of  a  book  at  the  delivery 
desk.  One  is  as  much  a  part  of  the  regular  work  of  the  library  as  the 
other.  Sometimes,  indeed,  as  was  the  case  a  few  weeks  ago,  the  grateful 
inquirer,  determined  not  to  be  baffled,  declares  that  there  is  nothing  to 
prevent  his  sending  his  check  to  the  treasurer,  "for  the  general  uses  of 
the  library,"  and  does  send  it. 

Work  of  this  kind  is  constantly  developing  in  usefulness  and  scope,  and 
it  would  be  hazardous  to  set  limits  to  its  possibilities  in  the  future. 

But  the  view  which  has  just  been  presented  of  the  possibilities  of  the 
information  desk  does  not  tell  the  whole  story. 

The  personal  contact  of  the  library  officer  with  the  individual  reader  is 
still  needed  after  all  else  has  been  said  and  done..  In  the  word  "vital," 
indeed,  is  the  essence  of  the  whole  problem.  It  is  not  merely  "  the 
precious  life-blood  of  a  master  spirit,"  coming  in  contact  with  the  human 
lives  represented  in  the  readers  of  the  books,  but  it  is  this  contact  brought 
about  through  the  intervention  of  a  human  life  and  human  interest  on 
the  part  of  the  library  officer.  The  library,  in  brief,  at  the  point  where  it 
introduces  the  reader  to  the  books  must  present  a  vital,  not  a  mechanical 
aspect. 

It  is  entirely  true  that  when  in  1891  the  feature  of  an  information  desk  • 
was  introduced  in  this  library,  it  was  thought  of  chiefly  from  the  side  of 
its  possible  usefulness,  in  the  field  of  "  the  literature  of  knowledge."  In 
that  field  indeed,  it  has  been  useful  and  effective  far  beyond  the  expecta- 
tions entertained  in  regard  to  it;  but  it  is  an  instructive  fact  that,  more 
and  more,  its  beneficent  agency,  in  the  field  of  "  the  literature  of  power  " 
3 


124 


UNIVERSITY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK 


[June  25 


is  coming  to  be  recognized.  It  is  along  this  line  indeed  that  the  library's 
strongest  possibilities  for  usefulness  lie  in  the  future. 

Again  the  consideration  of  specific  methods  must  take  into  account  not 
merely  the  separate  individuals,  but  the  aggregations  of  these  individuals 
in  the  shape  of  clubs,  of  schools,  colleges,  etc. ;  of  persons  engaged  in 
manufacturing,  in  the  local  industries ;  of  persons  interested,  we  will  say, 
in  the  bicycle,  the  camera,  in  wood-carving,  or  in  some  other  nucleus  of 
interest  and  study.  Is  it  among  the  possibilities  that  these  interests, 
innumerable  and  widely  varied  as  they  are,  should  not  be  connected  by 
lines  of  interest  with  the  contents  of  the  library's  collection  of  books  ? 
It  is  incredible.  But  it  is  absolutely  necessary  that  the  librarian  should 
know  his  collection  thoroughly,  in  order  to  bring  it  to  bear  where  it  is 
needed.  Indeed,  one  of  the  first  things  which  a  librarian,  on  going  into 
a  new  pla£e,  should  address  himself  to  the  study  of,  is  an  exhaustive 
examination  of  the  complex  organization  of  his  community.  The  direc- 
tory will  give  him  a  starting  point,  with  its  list  of  societies,  organizations, 
etc.,  public  or  semi-public.  But  this  will  only  serve  to  start  him  on  the 
process,  acquaintance  with  members  of  one  organization  leading  to  an 
incidental  mention  of  some  other  and  less  public  organization,  and  so  on, 
until  he  has  an  approximately  complete  record  of  them  all,  alphabetically 
filed.  He  should  then  provide  a  u  registry-book,"  in  which,  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  season,  all  the  local  study-clubs  (debating  societies,  university 
extension  centers,  reading-circles,  etc.)  shall  have  an  opportunity  to 
register  their  subjects  for  the  coming  season.  We  have  already  had 
occasion  to  notice  with  how  much  regret  the  librarian  would  find  that  he 
had  failed  to  supply  the  one  thing  most  desired,  from  failure  to  know 
the  contents  of  the  book;  but  it  would  be  an  almost  equal  source  of 
regret  if  he  "  failed  to  connect"  solely  from  failure  to  know  what  little 
knot  of  students  wanted  the  material.  So  that  if  he  has  observed  in  the 
Engineering  magazine  in  1895,  for  instance,  Mr  Gilbert's  interesting 
illustrated  article  on  "  The  architecture  of  railway  stations,"  it  would  be  a 
pity  not  to  be  ready  to  supply  a  guide  to  that  when  the  local  high  school 
debating  society  reaches  the  question  of  "  Railway  stations  and  their 
surroundings." 

In  more  than  one  locality,  scattered  throughout  New  England  and 
New  York,  the  local  public  library  has  come  to  be  recognized  as  the 
natural  local  center  of  the  community,  around  which  revolve  the  local 
studies,  the  local  industries,  and  all  the  various  local  interests  of  the  town 
or  village.  Here,  for  instance,  is  the  home  of  the  local  historical  or 
antiquarian  society;  here  also  is  the  home  of  the  local  camera  club;  of 


1896]  HOW  TO  DEVELOP  INTEREST  IN  THE  LIBRARY  1 25 

the  natural  history  society;  of  the  schoolmasters'  club,  etc.  Why  is  this? 
It  is  because  those  in  charge  of  the  library  have  so  thoroughly  realized 
the  fact  that  in  a  community  the  interests  of  all  are  the  interests  of  each, 
and  that  while  this  is  true  of  other  institutions  as  related  to  each  other — 
of  the  natural  history  museum,  for  instance,  as  related  to  the  public 
schools — yet  there  is  no  one  of  them  on  which  the  lines  of  interest  so 
invariably  converge  from  all  the  others  — as  "all  roads  lead  to  Rome"— 
as  is  the  case  with  the  public  library.  The  town  of  Brookline,  Mass.,  is 
a  somewhat  notable  instance  of  this.  It  is  a  community  of  about  15,000 
people,  almost  entirely  surrounded  by  the  city  of  Boston.  Gradually 
there  has  grown  up  around  its  public  library  (which  now  has  about  40,000 
volumes)  a  combination  of  almost  all  the  systematic  joint  study  lines 
represented  in  the  place.  The  Brookline  education  society,  which  holds 
its  meetings  there,  has  among  its  sections  one  each  on  music,  child  study, 
history,  reading,  etc. 

There  is  one  more  point  of  view  from  which  I  would  like  to  touch 
briefly  on  this  subject,  namely,  the  steps  preceding  the  opening  of  any 
public  library,  taken  in  preparation  for  the  opening  of  one.  How  shall 
we  best  develop  interest  in  the  community  under  these  conditions  ?  Here 
the  question  is  how  most  effectively  to  place  before  the  community  the 
possibilities  of  such  an  institution,  still  largely  an  unknown  institution  to 
the  most  of  the  community.  Obviously,  in  thus  proceeding  from  the 
known  to  the  unknown,  all  possible  agencies  should  be  utilized  which 
may  tend  to  make  the  matter  real  to  the  people.  If  a  public  meeting  is 
to  be  held,  most  certainly  any  speaker  from  abroad  who  is  to  address  it 
should  be  one  who  has  been  in  vital  contact  with  the  beneficent  in- 
fluences of  a  well-directed  public  library  and  can  speak  feelingly  and 
from  first-hand  experience  with  it.  Both  "  sides  "  of  this  experience,  so 
to  speak,  should  be  represented,  if  possible,  in  such  a  showing  as  this. 
That  is  to  say,  it  will  be  well  to  hear,  under  such  circumstances,  not  only 
from  the  librarian  of  a  library  which  has  been  making  a  place  for  itself  in 
the  affections  of  a  community,  but  from  some  beneficiary  of  the  library's 
good  offices,  some  teacher,  for  instance,  who  can  speak  from  experience, 
not  merely  of  what  the  library  has  aimed  to  accomplish,  but  of  what  it 
actually  has  accomplished  in  his  own  experience  time  and  time  again.  In 
every  such  community,  moreover,  where  no  public  library  has  as  yet  been 
established,  there  are  at  least  many  chances  that  it  will  contain  some 
members —whether  teachers  or  others  —  who,  having  been  accustomed 
elsewhere  to  the  benefits  of  a  public  library,  can  speak  feelingly  of  the 
deprivation  experienced  on  coming  to  a  new  community  where  none 


126 


UNIVERSITY  OF  THE   STATE  OF  NEW  YORK  [June  25 


exists.  Such  public  spirited  citizens  will  be  among  the  best  and  most 
effective  missionaries  of  the  new  movement.  Your  community  more- 
over will  constitute  a  rather  marked  exception  to  communities  generally 
if  you  do  not  find  the  local  press  ready  and  willing  to  cooperate  in  all 
these  measures,  and  to  open  its  columns  to  testimonies  such  as  I  have 
instanced. 

Lastly,  care  and  judicious  attention  will  be  needed  when  the  library  is 
fairly  opened  and  during  the  first  few  months  of  its  operation,  until,  in 
short,  it  is  well  past  what  may  be  called  the  "  broken  reed  and  smoking 
flax  "  period.  If  I  were  to  be  asked  what  is  the  most  frequent  occasion 
for  failure  or  flagging  of  interest  here,  I  should  reply,  "  The  too  common 
practice  of  building  and  equipping  the  library  first,  and  engaging  the 
librarian  second;  "  and  thus  relying  upon  the  books,  unaided,  to  present 
their  effective  influence  upon  the  community.  No  mistake  could  be 
greater,  as  may  be  seen  from  those  instances  in  which  the  well  directed 
effectiveness  of  the  librarian's  personality  has  counted  for  so  much.  At 
the  .  outset,  when  novelty  is  a  leading  motive,  much  reliance  may  ap- 
propriately be  had  on  the  fresh  interest  of  current  periodicals,  and  of  the 
latest  published  books ;  but  a'  library  which  should  remain  indefinitely  in 
this  stage,  as  a  chronic  condition,  would  be  like  a  child  who  has  grown 
into  manhood  without  abandoning  his  childish  toys.  Novelty,  recreation, 
serviceableness,  these  three — all  these  are  legitimate  and  appropriate 
aims,  at  some  time  in  the  development  of  a  public  library,  but  the  third 
has  a  potency,  in  establishing  the  library  in  the  deep  affections  of  the 
community,  to  which  the  other  two  can  never  approach.  At  the  end  of 
10  years  it  will  be  not  so  much  the  number  of  people  whom  the  library's 
books  have  amused,  as  those  who  have  found  it  capable  of  rendering 
them  a  real  and  most  appreciated  service,  to  which  its  officers  will  look 
with  pleasure  and  satisfaction. 

It  is  sometimes  a  help  to  the  understanding  of  an  institution  to  resort 
to  analogy ;  and  to  say  that  in  character  or  aim  A  is  analogous  to  B. 
There  is  however  a  peculiar  difficulty  in  selecting  any  other  institution  as 
one  whose  analogy  the  public  library  may  be  said  to  follow.  We  may 
turn,  and  naturally  do  turn,  to  the  public  schools,  and  we  find  in  both,  as 
common  aims,  a  distinct  educational  purpose.  Both  also  are  free,  as  well 
as  educational.  But  the  public  school  is  for  but  one  portion  of  the  com- 
munity—  the  younger  portion,  while  the  public  library  is  for  all — young 
as  well  as  old  —  for  those  of  limited  knowledge  and  the  more  learned 
and  accomplished  alike.  The  public  park  suggests  itself  as  analogous,  but 
there  are  large  portions  of  the  community  who  not  only  do  not  use  the 


T896]  HOW  TO  DEVELOP  INTEREST  IN  THE  LIBRARY  I27 

parks,  but  have  no  desire  to  do  so.  Moreover,  while  the  general  tendency 
of  a  park  system  is  towards  the  better  sanitary  condition  of  the  city,  the 
one  idea  distinctly  uppermost  in  the  provision  of  the  parks  for  the  people 
is  recreation ;  and  in  this  it  differs  from  the  public  library,  where  recrea- 
tion holds  a  decidedly  subordinate  place.  There  is  perhaps  a  closer 
analogy  in  the  case  of  the  art  museum.  Some  element  of  entertainment 
undoubtedly  enters —  and  most  properly  —  into  the  underlying  purpose 
of  an  art  museum,  just  as  it  does  in  the  case  of  the  public  library,  but  the 
predominant  idea  is  that  of  advancing  the  intellectual  life  of  the  com- 
munity. Both  are  among  the  great  civilizing  forces  of  our  time,  the  art 
museum  as  containing  within  itself  that  which  is  best  of  the  art  of  all 
time,  and  the  public  library  that  which  is  best  of  the  literature  of  all 
time.  And  yet,  while  the  public  library  is  invariably  free  to  the  public, 
the  art  museum  is  so,  as  yet,  only  in  exceptional  instances.  And  so  this 
analogy  also  fails  to  hold  entirely  good.  The  truth  is  —  and  it  is  a  strik- 
ing testimony  to  the  universality  of  the  public  library's  influence  —  that 
it  is  sui  generis,  and  stands  alone  in  the  extent  to  which  it  concentrates 
upon  itself  the  lines  of  interest  from  all  other  centers  of  interest  in  the 
community.  There  is  then  a  failure  somewhere  if  those  in  charge  of  it 
fail  to  recognize  these  possibilities  and  not  merely  develop  but  maintain 
the  interest  of  the  entire  community  in  its  contents.  Counsel  for  the 
librarian  in  this  matter  must,  one  might  almost  say,  begin  and  end  with 
this :  study  your  books  until  you  know  the  secrets  of  their  contents ; 
study  your  community  until  you  are  sure  that  you  know  its  needs,  indi- 
vidually and  collectively.  Above  all,  study  to  see  that  the  right  reader 
secures  the  right  book,  and  that  the  right  book  gets  into  the  hands  of  the 
right  reader. 

D  scussion 

Mary  Emogene  Hazeltine  —  In  an  early  volume  of  Sf  Nicholas 
there  is  a  picture  of  a  procession  of  school-children  marching  in  close 
ranks,  carrying  books  and  slates.  This  picture  is  not  large  but  it  reveals 
in  perspective  an  array  that  is  apparently  endless,  and  in  its  suggestion 
is  of  wonderful  power,  showing  as  it  does  most  effectively  the  number  and 
strength  of  the  school  children  of  this  country.  The  illustration  represents 
the  line  as  constant.  But  you  and  I  know  that  in  reality  there  are  many 
breaks  in  this  procession  ;  that  whole  bands  are  being  discharged  in  some 
districts  to  join  the  great  company  of  working  people,  that  individuals 
drop  out  all  along  the  line  for  this  cause  or  that,  while  there  are  many 
that  totally  abandon  keeping  pace  with  their  comrades  from  sheer  want 


I28  UNIVERSITY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK  [June  25 

of  awakened  interest,  that  comparatively  few  reach  the  high  school,  and 
fewer  yet  enter  the  colleges  and  universities. 

Teachers  and  schools  do  not  and  can  not  supply  complete  educational 
advantages.  It  is  here  that  the  library  and  the  librarian  come  to  aid  the 
teacher  and  supplement  the  work  of  the  school.  The  correlation  of 
school  and  library  has  been  ably  shown,  and  it  is  not  necessary  that  I 
should  dwell  longer  on  this  point,  except  to  say  that  the  sooner  the  child 
learns  the  way  to  the  library  and  is  taught  the  use  of  it  by  the  librarian  or 
an  assistant  in  sympathy  with  children,  the  more  incentive  there  is  for 
good  school  work.  The  young  people  gain  a  knowledge  of  books  as  a 
whole,  not  the  fragments  that  they  find  in  their  text  books,  and  the  true 
students  among  them  are  thoroughly  roused  and  inspired  to  future  study. 
The  scholar  that  is  indifferent  and  goes  to  school  only  under  compulsion 
and  hopes  to  get  out  of  it  the  easiest  way,  finds  that  he  has  many  a  com- 
panion and  friend  in  the  books  at  the  library.  Best  of  all,  those  that  must 
become  wage  earners  at  no  distant  day  have  learned  the  way  of  self  in- 
struction. 

The  free  library  is  the  people's  university.  It  is  the  librarian's  work  to 
bring  the  people  to  this  university  and  to  show  them  their  inheritance. 
The  librarian,  as  has  been  said,  must  know  his  community.  He  must 
lead  in  its  ways  and  unfold  to  the  people  other  lines  of  thought  and  raise 
them  above  themselves.  If  it  is  a  manufacturing  community  in  which  he 
is  working,  books  must  be  supplied  concerning  manufactures,  books  on 
textile  fabrics,  books  giving  designs  and  color  values  as  well  as  books  on 
machines  ;  if  it  is  an  iron  region,  books  must  be  provided  on  the  iron  and 
steel  industries,  not  only  technical  books  for  those  far  advanced  in  their 
profession,  but  books  for  beginners,  that  the  boys  who  enter  the  mills  at 
an  early  age  may  study  and  learn  to  be  superintendents,  leaders  in  their 
departments ;  books  on  shoemaking  and  leather  must  have  their  place  in 
the  library  if  it  is  a  shoe  manufacturing  district;  if  it  is  a  literary  com- 
munity, books  must  be  supplied  on  subjects  that  lead  out  in  literature,  in 
art,  in  music. 

More  than  supplying  the  books  for  the  community,  the  librarian  must 
bring  the  people  to  the  library.  As  has  been  said,  he  must  not  wait  for 
the  people  to  come  to  him,  he  must  prove  to  them  that  it  is  their  property 
and  for  their  use.  Personal  work  must  be  done,  and  till  the  city  becomes 
too  large,  much  can  be  done  if  the  librarian  is  willing  to  go  out  among 
the  people.  He  must  be  willing  to  be  stopped  on  the  street  and  asked 
whether  he  has  such  and  such  a  book.  We  hardly  expect  a  merchant  to 
be  stopped  and  asked  if  he  has  goods  of  such  a  character  and  how  much 


HOW  TO  DEVELOP  INTEREST  IN  THE  LIBRARY 


129 


it  is  a  yard,  but  the  librarian  must  expect  it.    He  must  know  his  books. 

Somebody  will  ask,  "  If  I  come  to  the  library  will  you  give  me   's 

book  on  birds?"  "I  am  sorry,  but  we  have  not  that  book;  however,  if 
you  will  come  I  will  give  you  something  that  will  answer  your  purpose 
just  as  well"  or  "We  have  that  book  and  if  you  will  come  I  will  get  it 
for  you."  When  the  artisan  who  is  laboring  with  a  gang  of  workmen 
finds  trouble  with  a  tall  chimney  that  he  is  building  and,  leaving  work 
and  workmen,  comes  to  the  library  to  see  if  he  can  find  a  book  on  the 
subject  of  drafts  in  tall  chimneys,  special  pains  must  be  taken  that  he 
shall  find  what  he  wishes  without  loss  of  time.  The  house  painter  who 
comes  to  find  a  book  on  color  that  he  may  know  how  better  to  combine 
his  colors,  or  the  one  who  wishes  to  know  a  few  more  designs  for  sign 
painting,  must  have  special  attention.  The  merchant  who  wishes  to  do 
artistic  advertising  can  be  helped  with  the  plates  of  Scotch  plaids  that  he 
may  advertise  plaids  by  their  proper  names,  and  with  other  things  in  his 
line.  Then  there  are  the  masses,  people  who  do  not  wish  help  in  any 
special  direction  but  who  need  culture,  who  need  to  be  brought  to  a 
knowledge  of  what  there  is  in  the  fulness  of  life  for  them.  These  must 
be  awakened. 

And  how  shall  we  awaken  interest  in  the  community  ?  How  shall  we 
bring  to  people  this  knowledge  of  their  needs  ?  for  alas,  few  people  know 
that  they  need  what  we  have  for  them.  First,  we  depend  on  the  school 
children.  We  work  with  them  personally,  and  the  next  generation  is 
coming  without  very  much  urging.  But  in  the  present  generation  the 
children  will  bring  their  parents.  Many  a  time  a  father  comes  to  the 
library  and  says,  "My  boy  has  had  books  here  and  I  would  like  some 
for  myself."  Or  a  mother  says,  "  My  daughter  or  son  has  had  books ;  can 
I  not  get  some  for  myself?"  We  depend  much  upon  the  children  to 
interest  and  lead  the  parents,  so  that  we  can  truly  say  the  child  is  father 
of  the  man. 

In  smaller  libraries  we  depend  on  the  local  papers.  If  necessary  we  do 
our  own  reportorial  work,  writing  up  our  books  for  the  news  columns. 
If  we  have  not  many  new  books  to  offer  from  time  to  time  we  write  up 
our  old  ones,  books  of  travel,  delightful  summer  journeys  or  European 
trips;  books  dealing  with  topics  of  the  day,  Cuba,  money,  politics  ;  books 
on  birds,  or  flowers ;  anything  that  we  think  may  interest  and  reach  some 
one.    The  papers  are  always  glad  to  help. 

Many  lines  of  industry  are  represented  in  our  busy  manufacturing  city. 
Because  I  can  not  go  personally  to  the  factories,  as  I  can  to  the  schools 
and  meet  the  operatives,  cards  giving  information  concerning  the  library 


X^O  UNIVERSITY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK  [June  25 

are  posted  in  conspicuous  places  throughout  the  mills.  In  headlines  of 
black  and  red  we  tell  them  that  the  library  is  for  them,  that  we  have  books 
for  recreation,  books  on  their  special  subject,  and  that  we  have  a  free  art 
gallery.  These  cards  of  information  are  also  in  the  post  office  and  in  the 
hotels. 

When  study  clubs  or  university  extension  centers  are  organized,  we 
make  it  a  point  to  meet  once  with  them  and  bid  them  welcome  to  all  that 
we  have ;  frequently  we  order  special  books  for  them,  if  we  have  not  what 
is  needed  for  their  work.  We  give  to  each  member  preparing  a  paper 
special  help  in  the  use  of  magazine  indexes,  and  other  reference  books. 

Then  we  arrange  for  special  attractions.  We  have  an  art  gallery,  not 
large  but  well  selected,  which  is  always  a  source  of  interest,  and  helps  very 
much  in  bringing  the  people  to  us.  In  May  we  had  on  exhibition  for  two 
weeks  the  water  color  collection  of  F.  Hopkinson  Smith,  which  brought 
3600  people  to  the  library.  It  was  a  great  inspiration  to  artists  and 
awakened  interest  in  many  directions.  At  the  time,  we  kept  in  a  special 
case,  free  of  access,  books  on  art,  color,  designs,  etc.,  also  books  on  Hol- 
land, Venice  and  Constantinople,  for  the  paintings  were  sketches  from 
these  countries,  and  many  made  selections  from  this  case  for  their  home 
reading.  With  the  collection  came  a  large  and  artistic  signboard,  of 
which  several  sign  painters  of  the  city  took  special  note.  During  the 
winter,  several  young  men  had  read  and  examined  all  that  we  had  on 
architecture;  they  came  many  times  to  study  the  wonderful  archi- 
tectural effects  that  Mr  Smith  gives  in  his  pictures;  mosques  with 
all  their  details,  Venetian  palaces,  the  perspective  of  the  canals,  the  towers 
and  buildings  of  Holland.  We  are  planning  to  circulate  pictures,  as  they 
do  in  other  libraries,  among  the  schools  and  among  people  that  have  very 
little  in  their  homes.  We  already  circulate  copy  plates  for  the  artist, 
doing  all  that  we  can  for  art  because  of  our  gallery. 

So  I  might  enumerate  numerous  ways  that  we  have  of  arousing  inter- 
est. The  possibilities  of  a  library  are  excellent.  The  opportunities  of  a 
librarian  are  unspeakable.  It  is  missionary  work;  it  is  as  truly  missionary 
work  as  anything  that  has  ever  been  undertaken  and,  were  there  time,  I 
could  tell  you  how  librarians  are  trying  to  be  foreign  missionaries,  not  to 
other  countries  but  to  communities  near  them. 

This  afternoon  you  have  a  study  of  ways  and  means  whereby  city  and 
union  school  systems  can  relieve  rural  schools.  Librarians  are  studying 
that  question  too.  How  can  a  larger  library  aid  a  smaller  one  ?  in  buy- 
ing and  selecting  books,  and  in  placing  those  books  properly  in  the 
library.    There  is  a  neighborhood  cooperation  among  the  libraries  like 


j8^6]  state  guidance  of  reading  13 1 

that  that  you  are  trying  to  have  among  the  schools.  Personal  aid  is 
given  by  the  librarian  of  the  larger  library  to  the  librarian  of  the  smaller 
one  and  patrons  sent  from  the  one  receive  special  attention  at  the  other. 

Library  work  is  a  work  of  peace.  It  is  giving  much  to  people  that 
have  little,  and  endeavors  to  ennoble  and  elevate  their  lives.  It  is  for 
the  poor  and  for  the  rich.  It  is  for  the  beginner  and  the  college  gradu- 
ate, for  the  artisan  and  the  student,  and  in  days  to  come,  when  the 
branches  of  education  in  New  York  are  given  as  primary,  secondary, 
collegiate  and  special,  we  hope  that  the  libraries  will  be  added;  that  the 
list  will  read,  primary,  secondary,  collegiate,  and  special  libraries.  For  it 
is  the  librarian's  purpose  to  aid  in  all  branches  of  education,  and  besides, 
to  gather  in  and  help  those  that  must  fall  from  the  ranks  at  14  years  of 
age  and  in  aiding  them,  to  aid  the  great  cause  of  education. 

Prin.  Fred  Van  Dusen  —  Perhaps  I  was  asked  to  take  part  in  this 
discussion  because  I  am  a  fair  concrete  specimen  of  the  correlation 
between  the  school  and  the  public  library,  having  to  fulfil  the  duties  of 
both  principal  and  librarian.  There  has  been  an  impression  in  the  past 
that  the  University  of  the  State  of  New  York  was  a  sort  of  myth,  a  sort 
of  unreality  partially  realized,  or  at  best  a  tormentor  of  innocents  three 
times  in  the  year.  I  wish  to  refute  that  notion  and  say  that  I  know  it  to 
be  true  that  the  connection  between  this  University  of  the  State  of  New 
York  and  all  parts  of  the  state  is  vital.  The  life  and  the  energy  which 
has  its  origin  at  this  place  and  in  the  brain  of  our  honorable  secretary 
pulses  and  throbs  through  every  part  of  the  state  of  New  York.  Up  on 
the  northern  confines  of  the  state  we  have  felt  the  impulse  and  we  have 
accomplished  something.  We  have  established  a  beautiful  library  plant 
which  may  be  valued  at  about  $50,000. 

The  particular  point  on  which  I  should  like  to  speak  this  morning  is 
one  that  has  been  briefly  referred  to  in  some  of  the  excellent  papers;  that 
is,  the  work  of  the  university  extension  clubs.  It  is  well  known  that  it  is 
the  library  department  of  the  University  which  is  fostering  the  organiza- 
tion of  these  clubs  throughout  the  state.  It  has  been  my  privilege  to 
assist  somewhat  in  the  organization  of  clubs  of  that  kind  in  the  city  of 
Ogdensburg,  and  I  think  the  movement  is  one  of  great  importance  in 
connection  with  the  public  library.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  an  organiza- 
tion of  25  of  the  most  cultured  ladies  of  our  city  was  formed  a  few  years 
ago  and  that  they  have  done  excellent  work  in  preparing  papers  on  the 
art,  literature,  sociology  and  history  of  Great  Britain.  Since  that  time 
there  has  been  another  branch  organization  of  25  younger  ladies,  and 


132  UNIVERSITY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK  [June  25 

during  the  past  year  they  have  also  been  doing  splendid  work.  The 
night  before  last  in  addressing  the  alumni  association  of  my  academy  I 
suggested  that  more  work  of  that  kind  should  be  done  and  that  it  would 
be  an  admirable  thing  if  the  graduates  of  that  school  should  organize  a 
branch  in  the  name  of  the  school  during  the  coming  year.  That  sug- 
gestion was  taken  up  with  a  great  deal  of  enthusiasm,  some  of  the 
ladies  asking  if  it  would  be  necessary  to  wait  till  fall  before  they  could 
begin  this  work.  I  have  never  felt  a  greater  pride  in  the  Empire  state 
and  in  the  University  of  the  state  than  when  I  found  that  these  clubs 
could  avail  themselves  of  the  choicest  literature,  the  finest  collection  of 
books  that  could  be  had  in  the  market,  for  the  particular  line  of  work 
which  they  had  laid  out.  I  hope  that  this  university  extension  movement 
is  spreading  over  all  the  state,  for  there  is  a  grand  possibility  for  good 
work  in  this  direction. 

Prof.  John  F.  Woodhull  —  It  is  apparent  that  the  librarian  should 
be  a  most  thoroughly  educated  person  as  well  as  a  man  of  affairs  and 
should  possess  a  very  congenial  personality.  I  wish  particularly  to  speak 
of  the  first  point.  The  librarian  needs  not  only  a  very  liberal  supply  of 
general  information  but  a  very  thorough  and  complete  education.  He  or 
she  has  the  opportunity  of  doing  what  we  teachers  in  the  classroom  wish 
we  could  do:  meet  our  pupils  as  individuals  and  give  them  the  personal 
help  they  need  and  not  be  obliged  to  stand  before  a  class  of  50  and  talk  to 
them  as  a  class.  The  librarian  has  better  opportunities  to  teach  and  more 
kinds  of  teaching  to  do  than  any  other  one  teacher  in  the  town.  I  believe 
the  time  is  coming  when  that  will  be  recognized;  when  the  librarian  will 
be  selected  with  greater  care  and  will  receive  the  greatest  salary  of  any 
one  educator  in  the  place.  I  know  of  one  college  library,  where  such  a 
person  is  now  in  demand,  where  it  would  be  possible  for  a  librarian  to 
become  the  most  influential  member  of  the  faculty  of  that  college,  and 
what  is  true  of  college  libraries  must  be  true  I  am  sure  of  city  and  town 
libraries.  The  librarian  should  be  the  missionary  of  education  to  the 
citizens. 

Sec.  Melvil  Dewey  —  Some  of  you  may  remember  that  when  I 
came  here  eight  years  ago  I  said  to  you  that  I  was  a  librarian  because 
I  had  devoted  my  life  to  education,  not  at  all  that  I  would  come  into 
the  regents  office  because  I  was  a  librarian.  I  have  taken  an  intense 
interest  in  this  development,  and  as  time  allows  I  would  like  for  a  few 
minutes  to  call  your  attention  to  what  has  been  done  in  New  York.  Few 
of  you  realize  how  much  we  have  already  accomplished  and  to  know  it 


!8g6J  STATE  GUIDANCE  OF  READING  133 

may  stimulate  you  to  more  active  cooperation.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  New 
York  state  stands  to-day  in  many  respects  at  the  head  in  what  it  is  doing 
for  the  public  library  movement  as  a  distinct  factor  in  education.  It  was 
the  first  state  or  government  to  recognize  the  library  as  an  institution  of 
higher  education,  to  give  the  representatives  of  the  library  a  seat  in  the 
University  convocation,  and  in  all  respects  to  recognize  the  library  as  just 
as  much  a  part  of  the  educational  system  as  the  college  or  academy.  In 
our  laws  there  is  not  only  this  recognition  but  also  provisions  broader 
and  more  comprehensive  than  those  of  any  other  state,  which  are  being 
copied  by  state  after  state. 

In  our  appropriations  we  lead  all  other  states.  It  is  possible  to  have 
laws  and  do  nothing  for  lack  of  money,  and  it  is  possible  to  have  appro- 
priations and  secure  inadequate  results.  We  have  now  in  this  state  for 
various  library  purposes  $121,900  a  year.  No  other  state  approximates 
even  remotely  this  amount,  and  that  does  not  include  the  large  sums 
given  to  our  various  law  libraries  scattered  throughout  the  state.  First, 
there  is  the  appropriation  for  the  state  library,  $22,900  for  administrative 
purposes,  $15,000  for  books,  $3500  for  the  state  medical  library;  $25,000 
for  the  public  libraries  division  the  work  of  which  ramifies  throughout  the 
state;  and  $55,000  given  to  the  state  department  of  public  instruction 
and  made  available  by  the  law  of  two  years  ago  for  introducing  the 
traveling  library  principle.  I  hope  we  shall  hear  from  Mr  Skinner  of  the 
work  they  have  now  organized  in  that  department  with  its  great  possi- 
bilities in  making  available  to  every  teacher  in  the  state  of  New  York 
the  best  books  without  expense. 

The  leadership  of  New  York  is  recognized  not  only  in  laws  and  appro- 
priations, but  in  methods.  There  is  no  other  state  that  gives  so  much 
promise  for  the  future,  and  best  of  all,  there  is  no  other  state  achieving 
to-day  so  much  in  results.  Our  good  neighbor  Massachusetts  has 
justly  the  reputation  of  doing  more  for  public  libraries  than  any  other 
section  of  the  world.  97  per  cent  of  all  their  population  is  supplied 
with  public  libraries.  There  is  hardly  a  township  in  the  old  state,  even 
back  in  the  mountain  towns  where  the  farms  have  been  deserted,  that  is 
not  provided  with  public  library  privileges.  Yet  it  was  a  great  pleasure 
to  me  the  other  day  at  the  meeting  of  their  state  association  to  hear  a 
half  dozen  leading  members  say,  "  Whatever  Massachusetts  has  done  in 
the  past  and  whatever  it  does  now,  it  is  to  New  York  that  we  must  look 
for  the  most  advanced  views  and  the  most  active  work  in  promoting  the 
public  library  interests  of  the  country." 


134  UNIVERSITY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK  [June  25 

Now  as  to  the  work  that  we  are  doing.  The  building  of  the  state 
library,  more  than  doubling  the  hours  of  opening,  making  it  available  not 
only  to  the  citizens  of  Albany  but  to  all  parts  of  the  state,  the  great  in- 
crease in  the  number  of  volumes,  all  that  is  interesting,  but  not  so  signifi- 
cant to  you  as  some  of  the  other  features.  We  have  the  Library  school, 
the  first  of  its  kind  in  the  world,  which  is  copied  widely  and  is  each  year 
growing  stronger.  Its  standards  of  admission  have  been  raised  steadily 
and  it  is  not  only  drawing  students  from  every  part  of  the  country  from 
Maine  to  California,  but  some  from  abroad,  and  is  sending  them  as  mis- 
sionaries of  the  library  and  the  book  to  almost  every  state  in  the  Union 
where  they  are  working  in  a  spirit  of  which  you  would  all  be  proud. 

We  have,  most  significant  of  all,  the  public  libraries  division.  Several 
states  have  public  library  commissions,  serving  without  salary  and  doing 
excellent  work  in  giving  advice,  but  we  alone  have  a  distinct  department, 
well  organized,  well  manned  and  actively  at  work.  A  dozen  people  are 
working  throughout  the  year  with  enthusiasm  and  intelligence  and  with 
the  best  results  in  the  interests  of  public  libraries  in  the  state  of  New 
York.  Nearly  300  libraries  are  traveling  from  one  part  of  the  state  to 
the  other,  inspiring  an  interest  in  the  best  literature  and  doing  a  work  such 
as  has  never  been  done  so  effectively  anywhere  in  the  world  for  the  same 
amount  of  money. 

Compliments  are  pleasing  in  regard  to  these  things,  but  they  weigh 
very  little  compared  with  imitation.  A  number  of  the  most  prominent 
states  in  the  Union  are  copying  our  system.  I  have  in  mind  two  that  have 
recently  taken  not  only  our  ideas  and  our  methods,  but  our  blanks  and 
cases  and  lists  of  books,  striking  out  the  words  New  York  and  substitut- 
ing the  name  of  their  own  state,  with  our  entire  approval  and  consent,  in 
that  way  utilizing  our  labors  for  these  other  states.  Pennsylvania  is  doing 
this ;  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  and  a  half  dozen  other  states  have  had  samples 
of  our  libraries  and  have  taken  up  this  means  of  providing  public  libraries 
more  widely  and  at  much  less  expense  than  by  any  other  method  hereto- 
fore devised.  Many  people  forget  that  it  is  not  enough  to  be  full  of 
enthusiasm  for  these  matters.  The  first  thing  in  the  enormous  body  of 
literature  before  us  is  to  let  people  know  which  are  the  best  books.  It  is 
a  hard  problem  in  a  great  library  of  more  than  300,000  volumes,  a  quarter 
million  manuscripts,  etc.  when  a  man  comes  in  and  wishes  information  on 
any  subject  —  information  or  inspiration,  whatever  it  maybe  —  to  give 
him  the  book  or  the  pamphlet  or  the  article  that  then  and  there  and  to 
him  will  be  most  useful.  It  is  an  infinitely  hard  task,  and  if  we  can  not 
wholly  accomplish  it  we  must  approximate  it. 


!8g6]  STATE  GUIDANCE  OF  READING  135 

First  is  the  selection,  and  for  that  we  have  specially  trained  assistants 
who  select  lists  for  study  clubs,,  extension  courses,  schools  and  other 
purposes.  We  are  sending  thousands  of  these  little  lists  throughout  the 
state ;  and  also  outside  the  state,  but  not  at  the  cost  of  New  York  tax- 
payers. After  a  list  has  been  made,  there  is  no  extra  cost  for  making  it 
available  to  people  outside  who  pay  the  cost  of  the  printer's  bills,  and 
we  are  sending  these  sometimes  by  the  thousand  outside  the  state  to 
those  who  pay  the  cost  of  printing  and  presswork.  There  is  a  great 
work  being  done  in  this  way.  So  we  have  this  great  problem  of  making 
the  state's  books  available  to  all  parts  of  the  state,  not  alone  to  the  gov- 
ernment in  the  capital  or  in  large  cities  or  towns,  not  alone  in  the  little 
communities  that  take  our  traveling  libraries  of  100  or  25  or  50  volumes, 
but  under  certain  simple  restrictions  we  are  sending  the  individual  book 
to  any  citizen  of  this  state  if  he  is  in  the  remotest  corner  and  earnestly 
desires  to  read  the  best  books.  The  state  will  help  him  and  that  book  is 
a  part  of  its  educational  system. 

But  finally  and  most  serious  of  all,  you  must  not  only  select  and  supply 
these  books  but  you  must  make  the  people  read  them.  You  may  lead  a 
horse  to  water,  but  you  can  not  make  him  drink.  I  have  felt  all  these 
years  that  that  is  the  greatest  problem  of  all.  We  may  have  laws  and 
appropriations  and  methods,  but  the  problem  is  to  make  our  boys  and 
girls  and  our  men  and  women  anxious  to  read  this  literature  for  which 
we  have  made  so  abundant  provision.  If  a  man  intended  to  build  a 
house  and  did  not  wish  to  be  bothered  with  every  real  estate  agent  in 
town  and  every  man  that  had  a  speculation  in  his  mind,  he  would  not 
advertise  that  he  was  very  anxious  to  pay  $20,000  cash  for  a  house,  but 
he  would  look  quietly  to  see  if  he  could  find  just  such  an  establishment 
as  he  needed.  The  regents,  who  have  been  warmly  interested  in  this, 
have  not  advertised  on  the  treetops  that  they  were  looking  for  a  man  to 
,pay  a  salary  to,  but  have  been  looking  very  closely  all  these  years  to 
find  a  man  who  from  natural  gifts,  from  education,  from  tastes,  from 
being  full  of  this .  missionary  spirit,  would  give  his  life  to  the  problem  of 
giving  the  state  of  New  York  justly  the  reputation  of  reading  more  good 
literature  to  the  acre  than  any  other  place  on  the  planet.  That  is  an 
extreme  statement;  but  will  you  tell  me  any  reason  why  the  Empire 
state  with  its  great  wealth  and  its  magnificent  educational  system  should 
be  content  with  anything  less  ?  .  I  think  that  our  sober  thought  will  say 
that  it  is  not  too  much  for  New  York  to  have  before  it  this  high  ideal  of 
being  known  as  reading  more  good  literature  than  any  other  section; 
and  it  is  a  great  delight  to  me  to  say  that  after  seven  or  eight  years  of 


136  UNIVERSITY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK  [June  25 

looking,  we  believe  we  have  found  a  man  for  this  particular  work.  He 
has  been  appointed  under  the  title  of  literature  inspector,  and  his  problem 
is  to  use  our  640  secondary  schools,  with  their  courses  in  English  and 
American  literature,  modern  foreign  literature  in  English  dress,  the 
ancient  classics  in  English  translations,  and  their  general  reading 
courses,  which  are  constantly  branching  out,  in  a  way  they  have  never 
been  used  before  in  developing  this  taste  for  literature;  and  not  only 
that  but  to  work  also  through  our  public  libraries  division  and  through 
the  state  library  and  study  clubs  springing  up  all  over  the  state,  through 
all  these  agencies  that  in  this  state  are  peculiarly  adapted  to  this  purpose. 
This  literature  inspector  will  have  these  facilities  all  before  him  like  the 
tools  of  a  master  workman,  while  the  regents  say  to  him,  "  Your  problem 
is  to  make  New  York  known  as  reading  more  good  literature  than  any 
other  section."  It  is  a  pleasure  to  know  that  we  have  with  us  to-day 
Prof.  Richard  Jones  of  Swarthmore  college,  who  from  his  training  at 
home  and  in  foreign  universities,  from  his  work  in  literature  and  from  his 
work  with  his  classes  we  believe,  after  careful  inspection,  to  be  the  best 
man  in  the  United  States  to  do  this  particular  work.  Mr  Chancellor,  I 
think  convocation  will  join  me  in  asking  you  to  insist  that  Prof.  Jones 
shall  say  a  few  words  to  us  on  this  subject. 

Inspector  Richard  Jones  —  I  was  asked  to  stand  before  you  this 
morning  in  order  that  we  may  become  acquainted.  But  I  was  also  asked 
not  to  say  anything;  at  least  not  to  say  much  of  anything,  because  there 
would  not  be  time.    1  may,  however,  say  a  personal  word. 

I  left  the  chair  of  literature  in  a  beautiful  little  Quaker  college,  a  chair 
of  literature  which  was  in  many  ways  an  ideal  college  professorship,  be- 
cause I  was  persuaded  that  here  in  this  great  state  of  New  York  there  is 
a  large  work  which  I  may  possibly  be  able  to  do.  It  was  hard  to  leave 
the  friendships  formed  in  the  little  college,  and  I  shall  ask  your  sympa- 
thetic cooperation  and  your  advice  that  I  may  be  able  to  some  extent  to 
do  the  great  work  to  which  I  have  been  called. 

I  want  to  commend  most  heartily  some  of  the  words  spoken  by  Mr 
Lamed  in  his  paper.  What  literature  shall  we  read  ?  I  was  told  by  the 
librarian  of  one  of  the  Philadelphia  libraries  that  one  of  the  public  school 
teachers  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia  sent  to  him  young  ladies  from  15  to 
16  years  of  age  to  read  Boccaccio's  Decameron.  It  seems  to  me  that 
that  was  a  great  mistake.  In  the  history  of  literature  Boccaccio's 
Decameron  is  a  classic,  but  it  is  not  the  classic,  as  I  believe,  to  be  read 
by  young  ladies  from  15  to  16  years  of  age.    What  literature  shall  we 


i896] 


STATE  GUIDANCE  OF  READING 


137 


read  ?  Robert  Burns  is  a  classic,  but  I  for  my  part  would  not  ask  a  class 
to  read  his  Jolly  beggars.  I  will  not  enter  upon  the  discussion  of  art  for 
art's  sake  and  the  relation  between  beauty  and  truth,  but  will  only  express 
my  conviction  that  the  divorce  which  is  sometimes  felt  to  exist  between 
beauty  and  truth  is  found  to  exist  only  in  second-rate  literature  and 
second-rate  works  of  art  in  general.  The  great  literature,  the  great  works 
of  art,  I  believe  do  not  contain  this  divorce.  It  is  true  that  he  who  advo- 
cates art  for  art's  sake  may  say  that  the  great  poet  did  not  intend  to  produce 
a  sermon,  and  yet,  happily,  whether  he  was  conscious  or  not  of  it,  his 
work  is  a  great  moral  teacher.  His  ethical  sense  may  have  been  an  in- 
stinct, not  an  intention;  an  intuition,  not  an  allegiance  to  moral  law. 
Yet,  happily,  so  true  is  his  instinct,  and  so  unerring  is  his  intuition  that 
he  has  enshrined  by  means  of  beauty  a  moral  truth,  and  his  work  is  a 
guide  to  conduct.  I  know  very  well  a  professor  of  literature,  a  noble- 
minded  woman,  who  asks  the  young  ladies  in  her  charge  to  read  the 
works  of  a  certain  famous  French  novelist  who  describes  sin  in  a  realistic, 
not  to  say  an  atrocious  manner.  She  asks  her  young  ladies  to  read  the 
works  of  Zola,  to  read  Nana.  Her  theory  is,  forewarned,  forearmed. 
But  I  can  not  believe  that  the  advice  of  this  noble-minded  woman  is 
wise.  Zola  describes  sin  too  minutely,  too  sympathetically,  too  sensu- 
ously. It  is  true  that  he  gives  in  a  few  insignificant  pages  at  the  close 
the  retribution  also.  But  it  is  the  sin  that  lives  on  in  the  mind  of  the 
reader,  the  description  of  the  sin  and  not  the  few  pages  of  retribution. 
How  different  is  George  Eliot  in  Adam  Bede.  Here  the  sin  is  hardly 
mentioned,  but  the  retribution  burns  itself  into  the  minds  of  her  readers 
forever. 

At  the  international  art  exhibition  in  Munich,  Germany,  in  1892  I  saw 
a  magnificent  painting  which  covered  one  side  of  a  large  room.  Its 
subject  was  the  destruction  of  Babylon.  After  a  night  of  revelry  and 
debauch  the  king  and  his  drunken  consorts  are  lying  in  drunken  slumber. 
Here  is  Darius  with  his  army  entering  the  city  in  the  dim  early  morning 
light.  Some  of  the  revelers  are  still  asleep.  Others  with  terror-stricken 
eyes  are  gazing  at  the  oncoming  doom — a  striking  theme  portrayed  by  a 
master  wielder  of  the  brush.  Sin,  retribution,  the  subject-matter  of  great 
art.  This  ought  to  have  been  a  great  painting.  Why  is  it  not  ?  Because 
the  artist  painted  the  sin  too  sympathetically,  too  sensuously.  The 
French  artist,  like  the  French  novelist,  took  more  pleasure  in  describing 
the  sin  than  the  consequences  thereof.  He  would  be  an  artist,  not  a  mor- 
alist, but,  unhappily,  his  work  comes  short  of  greatness  as  a  work  of  art 
because  it  does  not  teach  a  moral  lesson.    Therefore,  this  painting,  which 


UNIVERSITY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK 


[June  25 


might  have  been  an  immortal  teacher  of  righteousness,  was,  in  my 
opinion,  a  teacher  of  vice. 

How  different  a  conception  of  literature  is  this  from  that  of  the 
Colorado  millionaire  who  on  being  asked  what  a  painting  he  had  bought 
represented,  replied,  "That  painting,  frame  and  all,  represents  nigh  on  to 
$750."  This  artistic  critic  said  he  had  a  friend,  a  poet,  visiting  him. 
"  Why,"  said  he,  "  he  composes  by  the  hour  and  produces  things  that 
sound  beautiful,  but,"  said  he,  "  there  is  no  sense  in  them.  Why,  it  is 
nothing  in  God's  world  but  just  literature.'7  But  I  am  happy  in  the 
belief  that  those  who  know  the  most  about  the  world's  great  literature 
look  upon  that  which  has  no  sense  in  it  as  anything  in  God's  world  except 
literature,  literature  which  in  the  words  of  Carlyle  is  the  Thought  of 
thinking  souls;  in  the  words  of  Lowell,  is  the  key  which  admits  us  to 
the  whole  world  of  thought  and  imagination,  to  the  company  of  saint  and 
sage,  of  the  wisest  and  wittiest  at  their  wisest  and  wittiest  moments  j 
which  enables  us  to  see  with  the  keenest  eye,  hear  with  the  finest  ears 
and  listen  to  the  sweetest  voices  of  all  time ;  literature  through  which, 
as  our  commissioner  of  education,  Dr  Harris,  has  said,  "  the  genius  of 
the  race  appearing  in  exceptional  individuals  instructs  the  multitude, 
educates  man's  insight  into  the  distinction  of  good  from  evil,  reveals  to 
him  his  ideals  of  what  ought  to  be,  and  elevates  the  banner  of  his  march 
toward  the  beautiful  good  and  the  beautiful  true. 

Fellow  teachers,  I  ask-your  advice  and  your  cooperation  that  I  may 
not  fail  in  this  great  work  which  you  have  honored  me  by  asking  me 
to  do. 

Prin.  J.  E.  King —  Let  me  express  my  personal  gratification  and  my 
gratitude  to  the  regents  and  their  representatives  for  the  wisdom  and 
value  of  this  convocation  program.  Several  of  us  have  noticed  that  they 
have  been  massing  their  subjects.  Yesterday  afternoon  science  was  hav- 
ing a  field  day.  Our  thoughts  were  in  one  direction  in  which  color, 
argument,  reasons  and  methods  were  held  within  our  gaze.  This  morn- 
ing, to  our  advantage  and  pleasure  the  library  is  at  the  front,  and  I  am 
sure  that  of  this  company  of  teachers  and  educators  there  are  very  few 
but  have  felt  their  souls  stirred  as  well  as  their  intellects  awakened  as  we 
have  confronted  this  missionary  aspect  of  the  library.  In  contemplating 
the  far-reaching  consequences  of  this  revival  of  the  library,  this  discovery 
of  its  power  and  this  purpose  to  spread  its  usefulness  among  all  people, 
I  have  felt  a  kindling  of  hope  and  a  swelling  *of  soul  akin  to  that  which  I 
have  experienced  sometimes  spiritually  when  I  have  confronted  the  aspect 


1896]  STATE  GUIDANCE  OF  READING  139 

and  the  effort  of  Christian  ministers,  and  self-sacrificing  missionaries  wish- 
ing to  evangelize  the  world.  One  gentleman  said  that  it  was  obvious 
that  the  librarian  of  all  men  should  be  a  cultivated  and  educated  man.  I 
am  gratified  that  the  regents  have  called  to  the  front  to-day  representa- 
tive speakers  who  are  fitting  object  lessons  of  what  typical  librarians 
ought  to  be,  —  educated,  cultivated  people  who  are  competent  to  instruct. 
I  have  been  sitting  at  their  feet  with  gratitude  and  with  very  much 
pleasure. 

Dr  Noah  T.  Clarke  —  Dr  King  has  stolen  a  little  of  my  thunder,  but 
if  you  will  let  me  have  the  rest  of  it,  all  right.  I  was  about  to  express  my 
congratulations  to  the  secretary  of  this  board  that  he  has  lived  to  see  the 
fruition  of  so  much  of  his  labor.  I  remember  there  was  in  an  older  time 
a  venerable  scholar  who  used  this  expression  :  u  Reading  maketh  a  full 
man,"  and  I  think  we  have  lived  to  see  that  statement  verified,  and  if  he 
had  added  "  woman,"  very  much  verified.  But  I  think  we  might  put  a  new 
construction  upon  that  old  saying  of  Lord  Bacon's,  and  write  the  word 
"fool,"  "Reading  maketh  a  fool  man,"  and  has  made  hosts  of  those 
among  us  to-day,  both  men  and  women. 

I  am  glad  to  see  this  movement  put  in  force  because  I  think  it  will 
straighten  out  that  spelling  and  bring  it  back  to  its  true  form.  When  you 
think  of  such  books  as  The  heavenly  twins  and  a  Lady  of  quality  appearing 
at  the  rate  of  100,000  copies  in  three  months  (and  who  reads  them?)  I 
wonder  if  reading  does  not  make  a  fool  man,  and  specially  a  fool  woman. 
There  is  no  difficulty  about  books.  The  world  is  full  of  them ;  there 
are  too  many.  The  very  object,  as  I  understand  it,  of  this  movement, 
is  to  make  a  distinction  and  to  cut  in  two  this  great  volume  of 
reading  and  restore  the  good  old  reading  to  its  place  and  increase  the 
number  of  its  readers.  "  Reading  maketh  a  full  man,  conference  a 
ready  man,  writing  an  exact  man."  Look  at  the  New  York  World  for 
instance,  whose  issues  reach  nearly  400,000  copies  a  day.  And  who  reads 
it  for  the  truth  it  contains  ?  Reading  is  not  new.  When  the  early  settlers 
came  from  Massachusetts  into  western  New  York  they  established  public 
libraries  before  they  established  churches.  I  have  in  my  possession  one 
volume  of  the  old  town  library  which  was  organized  within  12  months 
after  our  ancestors  settled  in  the  western  forests  of  the  Genesee.  You, 
all  remember  the  history  of  the  library  work  set  on  foot  years  ago  in  this 
state,  by  James  Wadsworth  of  Geneseo,  who  put  a  free  public  library 
into  every  school  district  in  the  state.  The  Harpers  published  the 
libraries,  and  for  many  years  they  furnished  most  of  the  reading  matter 
of  those  districts.  These  libraries  have  nearly  all  disappeared.  I  do  not 
4 


140  UNIVERSITY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK  [June  25 

know  that  any  of  them  are  now  in  use.  And  yet  after  all  they  sowed 
a  good  seed  which  has  been  growing  and  ripening  and  bearing  fruit, 
as  can  be  seen  in  this  more  exact  system  which  Sec.  Dewey  has  for 
some  years  been  working  out  and  which  now  is  so  largely  extended 
throughout  the  state.  I  have  only  this  fear.  Do  not  organize  too  much. 
You  can  lead  a  calf  to  the  water  but  you  can  not  make  him  drink.  You 
have  to  create  a  taste  for  genuine  books.  It  must,  after  all,  spring  up  in 
the  family  and  in  the  early  life  of  the  child  and  largely  before  the  child  goes 
to  school.  The  child  is  not  going  to  wait  for  the  public  library  to  become 
■a.  reader  of  public  library  books.  I  know  a  little  fellow  who  before  he 
was  seven  years  old  was  delighted  with  Tennyson's  poems  and  could 
read  them  as  expressively  as  he  ever  will.  I  am  very  glad  to  see  this 
movement  and  I  hope  the  secretary  will  go  on  and  that  the  man  who  is 
to  succeed  him  will  work  it  out  in  detail  and  that  we  shall  all  see  a  line 
drawn  between  the  good  and  the  bad  stock,  and  that  the  readers  of  the 
coming  generation  will  be  readers  of  good  literature.  I  hope  that  they 
will  be  inspired  with  good  words,  good  thoughts —  good  and  truthful 
pictures  of  real  life  that  tend  to  make  men  and  women  better  —  and 
emphasize  the  truthfulness  of  that  trite  aphorism  "  Reading  maketh  a  full 
man  "  —  full  of  all  that  is  good  and  true,  of  that  which  is  lovely  and  of  good 
report,  full  of  the  great  fundamental  facts  and  of  the  best  types  of  human 
life — all  the  better  because  they  are  true. 

Prin.  Marcellus  Oakey  —  I  think  that  the  regents  might  reach  out 
a  little  further  in  their  supervision  of  the  libraries  of  the  state  and  see  what 
they  can  do  for  our  Sunday  school  libraries. 

L.  O.  Wiswell  —  I  have  not  immediate  charge  of  the  teachers' 
library  to  which  reference  has  been  made.  I  may  say  however  that  a 
catalogue  has  been  prepared  for  distribution  and  it  is  possible  that  quite 
a  number  here  present  have  already  received  copies.  It  is  only  a  few 
days  since  distribution  was  begun.  This  library  is  intended  primarily  for 
the  teachers  of  this  state  and  the  books  are  lent  freely.  I  might  add  a 
word  of  explanation.  If  you  receive  a  copy  of  the  catalogue,  which 
contains  more  than  1000  titles,  you  will  find  directions  as  to  the  proper 
procedure  in  making  application.  Upon  application,  the  book  will  be 
sent  to  the  teacher  and  he  or  she  may  have  the  reading  of  that  book  free, 
paying  only  return  postage;  or  if  a  teacher  wishes  to  retain  a  book  he 
may  return  its  price  which  is  considerably  below  the  regular  list  price. 
This  library  will  be  of  great  value  to  those  who  have  not  ready  access  to 
public  libraries  and  are  not  brought  into  contact  with  these  enthusiastic 


1896]  STATE  GUIDANCE  OF  READING  I41 

librarians.  Such  persons  are  thus  offered  assistance  which  from  their 
isolated  situation  they  would  otherwise  be  denied.  Teachers  are  ex- 
pected to  do  a  great  deal  in  the  way  of  promoting  the  reading  of  good 
literature,  and  I  must  say  that  in  listening  to  some  of  the  words  that 
have  been  uttered  this  morning  my  heart  has  vibrated  in  unison  with  the 
sentiments  that  have  been  so  eloquently  presented.  There  is  a  great 
work  for  us  to  do,  and  yet  it  can  not  be  done  by  sitting  and  wishing  or 
simply  being  enthusiastic  over  the  matter.  We  should  begin  at  the  begin- 
ning; and  if  so,  we  must  begin  with  the  little  children.  I  am  not  sure 
that  the  teachers  as  a  whole  are  ready  to  make  the  most  of  the  suggestions 
that  have  been  offered.  One  of  the  first  things  they  need  is  preparation. 
Can  you  interest  a  little  child?  How  are  you  going  to  work  to 
do  it  the  first  year,  the  second  year,  the  third  year?  What  material  will 
you  use  and  how  will  you  present  it?  There  are  problems  to  be  studied, 
but  I  have  considerable  hope  of  the  future.  After  listening  to  the  gen- 
tleman who  is  to  have  charge  of  this  work  under  the  direction  of  the 
regents,  the  outlook  appears  hopeful  indeed.  It  is  the  intention  of  the 
superintendent  of  public  instruction  to  issue  helps  in  presenting  the  sub- 
jects of  literature  and  reading  for  the  use  of  teachers  under  his  super- 
vision. The  matter  is  not  ready  for  distribution  as  yet  but  will  be 
probably  by  the  beginning  of  the  new  school  year.  We  all  ought  to 
work  together,  the  lower  and  the  higher,  to  uplift  the  community  in 
which  we  live. 


